LISA reaches a crucial milestone

The future gravitational-wave observatory in space completes a rigorous review

© NASA/JPL-Caltech/NASAEA/ESA/CXC/STScl/GSFCSVS/S.Barke (CC BY 4.0)

LISA Pathfinder - A Space Saga

Relive the groundbreaking technology demonstrator's mission milestones 5 years ago in a new Youtube mini-series released by the LISA Consortium.

LISA Pathfinder being encapsulated within the Vega rocket. © ESA–Manuel Pedoussaut

13th LISA Symposium talks are online

Find out about the exciting future of gravitational wave astrophysics in space!

Artist's impression of a LISA spacecraft. © AEI/MM/exozet

ESA ministers commit to biggest ever budget

The significant boost in funding for ESA’s world-class and inspirational science programme will allow the first gravitational wave detector in space, LISA, to fly alongside the black hole mission Athena.

ESA’s Council at Ministerial Level, Space19+, has concluded in Seville, Spain, with the endorsement of the most ambitious plan to date for the future of ESA and the whole European space sector. Image: ESA

Why we need a gravitational wave observatory in space

The science case for LISA

Merging Black Holes. Credit: T. Pyle/LIGO

The Gravitational Universe

Illuminating the dark universe with a new astronomy

Artist's impression of supermassive black hole. Credit: ESA/NASA, AVO project, Paolo Padovani.

LISA: A New Astronomy

Laser Interferometer Space Antenna

Artist's impression of LISA satellite. Credit: AEI/MM/exozet

LISA Pathfinder tracera la voie vers la mission eLISA en testant, dans l’espace, le concept (les principes ?) de la détection d’ondes gravitationnelles.

L'endroit le plus silencieux du système solaire

LISA Pathfinder (LPF) placera deux masses d’épreuve en "chute libre" quasi parfaite, contrôlera et mesurera leur mouvement relatif avec une précision inégalée. Ceci sera effectué grâce à des thechnologies innovantes telles que des senseurs inertiels, un système de métrologie laser, un système à compensation de trainée et des micro-propulseurs délivrant des micro-Newton. L’ensemble de ces masses d’épreuve et leur environnement constitueront probablement un des endroits les plus "calmes" du système solaire.

Toutes ces technologies sont non seulement essentielles pour la mission eLISA, elles seront également à la base de toutes les missions qui voudront tester la théorie de la relativitié générale d’Einstein.

LPF sera lancé en novembre 2015.

The LISA Consortium

The LISA Consortium is committed to supporting the LISA mission. It includes all the main investigators involved in the highly successful LISA Pathfinder mission, a number of scientists who worked on the ground-based LIGO, Virgo, and GEO projects, and a number who worked on the Laser Ranging Interferometer on the GRACE Follow-On mission, thus making full use of the expertise accumulated so far. The LISA Consortium proposed and submitted the white paper The Gravitational Universe which was accepted for the ESA L3 slot.

If you are a scientist and wish to contribute to the LISA mission, use this scientist registration form.

A new frontier for exploring the physical universe

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Latest news and consortium activities

Date Title Summary
Sep 01, 2015
 LISA Pathfinder on the way to launch The satellite is completed LISA Pathfinder (LPF), the test mission to demonstrate new...
Sep 01, 2015
 LISA Pathfinder en el camí al llençament El satèl·lit s'ha acabat LISA Pathfinder (LPF), la missió per demostrar les noves...
Oct 08, 2015
 LISA Pathfinder arrives at Launch Site in Kourou, French Guiana LPF arrives safely at the launch site in Kourou, French Guiana.
Dec 03, 2015
 LISA Pathfinder launches successfully on 3 Dec 2015 LISA Pathfinder lifted off on Ariane Spaceflight VV06 atop the sixth Vega rocket on 3...
Jan 13, 2016
 Laser light for LISA Pathfinder Since December 3, 2015, LISA Pathfinder is in space and still on the way to its target...

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Conferences, publications and positions

Date News topicsort descending Image Title
Sep 12, 2023
 Positions Postdoctoral positions in Computational Relativistic Astrophysics division at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam
Oct 19, 2022
 Positions Postdoc at Precision Interferometry and Fundamental Interactions Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Hannover
Aug 23, 2023
 Positions Assistant Professor in Neutrino Physics, Particle Astrophysics, Cosmology, and Gravitational Waves at UC Riverside
Sep 19, 2023
 Positions Postdoc positions in gravitational-wave astronomy at Milano-Bicocca
Jun 06, 2023
 Positions Tenure track position in multimessenger (incl. GWs) astrophysics at SISSA
Sep 06, 2023
 Positions Post Doctoral Associate at University of Florida
Positions New Gravitational Wave Physics MSc at Cardiff University
Sep 13, 2023
 Positions Postdoc position: novel interferometric sensing techniques and seismic noise mitigation in a torsion balance at AEI Hannover
Jan 24, 2023
 Positions Open positions at the Max Plack Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute) in Hannover, Germany in experimental and instrumental physics
Sep 21, 2023
 Positions Postdoctoral Fellowship in Gravitation at UT Austin
Sep 06, 2023
 Positions Post-Doctoral Associate in Gravitational-Wave Physics at CSU Fullerton
Positions PhD or Masters by Research positions – University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
Aug 16, 2023
 Positions Tenure-track position in Quantum Information Science at URI
Sep 22, 2023
 Positions Postdoctoral positions in Gravitational-Wave Physics and Astrophysics at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam
Sep 06, 2023
 Positions Computational physics tenure track position at Bard College

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