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
The LISA Mission Homepage

LISA - observing gravitational waves in space

LISA will be a large-scale space mission designed to detect one of the most elusive phenomena in astronomy - gravitational waves. With LISA we will be able to observe the entire universe directly with gravitational waves, learning about the formation of structure and galaxies, stellar evolution, the early universe, and the structure and nature of spacetime itself.

The LISA Pathfinder Mission successfully paved the way for the LISA mission by demonstrating the key technologies for a large gravitational wave observatory in space. The results show that LISA Pathfinder is working to a precision better than required for LISA. The LISA Pathfinder mission was launched on 3rd December 2015 and ended in July 2017. 

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
Feb 26, 2015
 LISA Pathfinder takes first steps on journey to space The LISA Pathfinder spacecraft has taken the first steps on the journey that will...
Jan 16, 2015
 ESA announces LISA Pathfinder launch for September 2015 In the first press release of 2015, ESA today announced the September launch window of...
May 04, 2015
 LISA Pathfinder's scientific payload completely assembled The assembly of the LISA Pathfinder satellite is on track for the launch on top of a Vega...
Jun 23, 2015
 LISA Pathfinder: Science payload completed and integrated into the satellite Next steps: Shipment to Kourou and launch in autumn After more than 10 years of intense...
Jul 17, 2015
 ESA: Inside LISA Pathfinder ESA’s LISA Pathfinder mission is a technology demonstrator that will pave the way for...

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Conferences, publications and positions

Date News topicsort descending Image Title
Nov 01, 2023
 Positions Faculty position at the University of Michigan
Oct 12, 2023
 Positions PTA postdoctoral position at Vanderbilt University
Nov 08, 2023
 Positions Postdoc at Precision Interferometry and Fundamental Interactions at AEI Hannover
Sep 06, 2023
 Positions Post Doctoral Associate at University of Florida
Oct 19, 2023
 Positions PhD positions in “Gravity & Matter at the Extreme” at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam
Nov 28, 2023
 Positions Scientific software developer in computational astrophysics at the University of the Balearic Islands, SPAIN
Positions PhD Scholarships – Statistics and Gravitational Wave Science for LISA, New Zealand
Oct 04, 2023
 Positions PhD call at UMassD and URI
Nov 02, 2023
 Positions Postdoctoral and scientific software developer positions in gravitational wave physics, Palma, Spain
Oct 12, 2023
 Positions Postdoctoral Fellowship in Theoretical and Gravitational Wave Astrophysics in Copenhagen
Nov 08, 2023
 Positions Project Manager (m/f/d) for the Interferometric Detection System (IDS) of LISA at AEI Hannover
Sep 12, 2023
 Positions Postdoctoral positions in Computational Relativistic Astrophysics division at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam
Nov 28, 2023
 Positions Postdoctoral positions on GW physics at TianQin
Dec 06, 2022
 Positions PhD and postdoctoral positions in Continuous Gravitational Wave research at AEI Hannover
Oct 04, 2023
 Positions Postdoctoral position at the University of Minnesota

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