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
Apr 09, 2021
 LISA Pathfinder - A Space Saga This series of short clips takes you back 5 years ago and lets you relive LISA Pathfinder...
Nov 04, 2021
 US National Academy of Sciences highlights LISA as a “New Window on the Dynamic Universe” Today, the US National Academy of Sciences has noted the important presence in the NASA...
May 04, 2022
 LISA reaches a crucial milestone The future gravitational-wave observatory in space completes a rigorous review LISA, the...
Nov 13, 2011
 LISA Pathfinder takes major step in hunt for gravitational waves Sensors destined for ESA's LISA Pathfinder mission in 2014 have exceeded expectations in...
May 24, 2012
 Getting ready for next time: European gravitational wave community strengthens space collaboration The LISA mission was reported to have been unanimously ranked first by ESA´s scientific...

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Conferences, publications and positions

Date News topicsort ascending Image Title
May 03, 2023
 Positions Nominations sought for the position of Director at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam
Jun 07, 2023
 Positions Postdoc in GW data analysis at UIB, Palma, Spain
Positions New Gravitational Wave Physics MSc at Cardiff University
Jan 03, 2023
 Positions PhD positions in “Precision Interferometry and Fundamental Interactions” at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, AEI Hannover
May 11, 2023
 Positions PhD Positions in Numerical Relativity in Jena
Jun 07, 2023
 Positions Balzan PhD and Postdoc positions in “Historical and philosophical aspects of solving the two-body problem in General Relativity”
Positions PhD or Masters by Research positions – University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
Jan 10, 2023
 Positions Scientist (m/f/d) for the leadership of a research group for the realization of a “Beyond LISA” mission
Jun 08, 2023
 Positions Postdoctoral Positions in Theoretical Physics at IFIC Valencia
Positions ESA Archival Research Visitor Programme
May 23, 2023
 Positions PhD on the Preparation and Exploitation of Euclid data for Gravitational Wave cosmology in Aix-Marseille & Rome
Jun 08, 2023
 Positions Five Year Senior Researcher Position in Quantum Field Theory and Gravity at HU Berlin
Positions Fellowships at the Nottingham Centre of Gravity
Apr 05, 2023
 Positions Professor in Asteroseismology, Binary Evolution & Gravitational Wave Progenitors at KU Leuven
May 23, 2023
 Positions Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral position in Gravitational Wave Physics at IFAE Barcelona

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