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
Jan 13, 2016
 Laserlicht für LISA Pathfinder Erste Systeme der wissenschaftlichen Nutzlast erfolgreich eingeschaltet und getestet
Jan 22, 2016
 LISA Pathfinder arrives at Lagrange Point 1! After a six-week journey, LISA Pathfinder arrived at its destination today, an orbit...
Feb 16, 2016
 Both LISA Pathfinder test masses released successfully! Test cubes floating freely inside LISA PathfinderESA’s LISA Pathfinder has released both...
Feb 11, 2016
 Gravitational waves observed for first time ever! LIGO Opens New Window on the Universe with Observation of Gravitational Waves from...
Mar 08, 2016
 LISA Pathfinder begins its science mission After completing a long series of tests on the spacecraft and payload, the ESA mission...

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Conferences, publications and positions

Date News topicsort descending Image Title
Dec 01, 2023
 Positions PhD Studentships at the University of Birmingham
Jan 03, 2023
 Positions PhD positions in “Precision Interferometry and Fundamental Interactions” at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, AEI Hannover
Oct 05, 2023
 Positions Head of LISA Performance and Operations Team at AEI Hannover
Nov 07, 2023
 Positions Postdoc position at UTRGV in Brownsville
Nov 21, 2023
 Positions Project Manager (m/f/d) for Space Department at AEI Hannover
Positions NASA POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP – APPLICATION DEADLINE MARCH/JULY/NOVEMBER 1
Sep 22, 2023
 Positions Postdoctoral positions in Gravitational-Wave Physics and Astrophysics at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam
Oct 25, 2023
 Positions Postdoctoral Positions in Theoretical Particle Physics, Theoretical Cosmology/Gravitation at IFAE
Jan 10, 2023
 Positions Scientist (m/f/d) for the leadership of a research group for the realization of a “Beyond LISA” mission
Nov 07, 2023
 Positions Faculty position at University of South Carolina
Oct 19, 2023
 Positions Faculty Positions Physics and Astronomy at UBC Vancouver
Nov 22, 2023
 Positions Postdoc on LISA and Einstein Telescope Data Analysis at Utrecht University
Positions Annual ESO Studentship Programme, Europe and Chile
Oct 26, 2023
 Positions Postdoc positions at CPT Marseille
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

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