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How long will the LISA mission last?

The LISA mission is designed for 4 years of nominal science operations, with a potential extended mission of up to 6 years. In addition to wear-and-tear of the spacecraft and its instruments, limitations to LISA’s lifetime come from the amount of propellant available to perform the drag-free flight of the spacecraft around the test masses, the long-term stability of the orbits that form the constellation, and communications difficulties associated with increasing distance between the consteallation and Earth.