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
Oct 03, 2017
 Nobel Prize 2017 in Physics for Gravitational Waves Rainer Weiss, Kip S. Thorne and Barry C. Barish of the LIGO/VIRGO Collaboration receive...
Apr 04, 2017
 The LISA Consortium mourns Pierre Binetruy Pierre was one of the greatest scientists in the LISA community, an overwhelming driving...
Dec 13, 2016
 LISA Pathfinder's pioneering mission continues: Mission gets a six month extension On 7 December, LISA Pathfinder started the extended phase of its mission, an additional...
Jul 13, 2017
 LISA Pathfinder: Bake, rattle and roll The final days of the LISA Pathfinder mission are some of the busiest, as controllers...
Nov 30, 2016
 Advanced LIGO detectors begin 2nd observation run AEI researchers expect new discoveries from LIGO instruments On Wednesday, 30 November,...

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Conferences, publications and positions

Date News topic Imagesort ascending Title
Sep 12, 2023
 Positions Postdoctoral positions in Computational Relativistic Astrophysics division at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam
Dec 11, 2004
 Papers Brans-Dicke gravity and the capture of stars by black holes: some asymptotic results
Positions PhD positions available at the UWA Gravitational-Wave Astronomy Group
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
Sep 30, 2012
 Papers X-ray emission from high-redshift miniquasars: self-regulating the population of massive black holes through global warming
Apr 26, 2023
 Positions Flight Software Engineer (m/f/d) “Scientific Instrumentation for Space Applications” at AEI
Sep 06, 2023
 Positions Post Doctoral Associate at University of Florida
Mar 28, 2017
 Papers Science with the space-based interferometer LISA. V: Extreme mass-ratio inspirals
Oct 13, 2023
 Conferences Windows on the Universe: Establishing the Infrastructure for a Collaborative Multi-messenger Ecosystem, October 13-18, 2023, Tucson
Sep 13, 2023
 Positions Postdoc position: novel interferometric sensing techniques and seismic noise mitigation in a torsion balance at AEI Hannover
Jun 13, 2005
 Papers Advanced VIRGO: detector optimization for gravitational waves by inspiralling binaries
Jan 03, 2023
 Positions PhD positions in “Precision Interferometry and Fundamental Interactions” at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics, AEI Hannover
Nov 27, 2023
 Conferences 32nd Workshop on General Relativity and Gravitation, November 27 - December 1, 2023 in Japan
Sep 21, 2023
 Positions Postdoctoral Fellowship in Gravitation at UT Austin

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