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

Against racism and discrimination

We have been deeply touched by the brutal and senseless killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the recent appalling episode of violence against Black Americans, which brought into relief systemic issues of racism and discrimination that pervade our communities worldwide in a variety of hidden and blatant forms. The LISA Consortium stands in strong solidarity with everyone affected by discrimination. Read more

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

New movie: LISA, the first gravitational wave observatory in space

On the occasion of the 236th meeting of the American Astronomical Society the LISA Consortium launched a new movie about ESA´s LISA mission. LISA is a space mission led by ESA with contributions from NASA and many ESA member states. LISA will observe gravitational waves in space with three satellites connected by laser beams forming a constellation in a heliocentric orbit.

Latest news and consortium activities

Date Title Summary
Jun 30, 2014
 LISA Pathfinder on the cover of top popular German astronomy magazine
Jun 29, 2014
 How do Gravitational Waves look like? David Radice wins Giulio Rampa Thesis Prize The 2014 Giulio Rampa Thesis Prize for outstanding research in Mathematical or Numerical...
Sep 11, 2018
 LISA Pathfinder Mission Accomplished Gathering of LISA Pathfinder collaboration, Trento, September 11-13, 2018The LISA...
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 descending Image Title
Jul 05, 2021
 Conferences New frontiers in strong gravity at Centro de Ciencias de Benasque Pedro Pascual, Spain, postponed to 2021 or 2022
Feb 08, 2021
 Conferences CAP2021, Sydney, February 8-12 2021 (postponed CAP 2020)
Nov 30, 2020
 Conferences 11th Einstein Telescope Symposium: November 30th to December 3rd 2020 (virtual)
Jun 23, 2021
 Conferences Compact Objects and Energetic Phenomena in the Multi-Messenger Era conference June 23-25, 2021 in Saint Paul, MN
Oct 26, 2020
 Conferences First Cosmic Explorer Meeting - Virtual, October 26-30, 2020
Mar 01, 2021
 Conferences Gravitational waves: a new messenger to explore the universe, March 1 to April 9, 2021 at IHP Paris
Feb 01, 2021
 Conferences SIGRAV International School 2021: Gravity of Compact Astrophysical Objects and Gravitational Waves. Feb 1-5, 2021
Conferences Hyperspace@AEI
Oct 19, 2020
 Conferences Virtual Iberian Gravitational Wave Meeting October 19-20 2020
Oct 14, 2020
 Conferences If you are recruiting: please send job offers to Online GW Jobfair at Uni Edinburgh,November 2020
Jun 13, 2021
 Conferences IAU Symposium 363 in L’Aquila, Italy, postponed to June 13-18 2021
Jan 28, 2021
 Conferences 43rd COSPAR Scientific Assembly in Sydney postponed to January 2021
Oct 14, 2020
 Positions Postdoc positions in Gravitational-Wave Physics and Astrophysics at the Albert Einstein Institute Potsdam
Sep 25, 2020
 Positions Postdoc position in GW astronomy at Johns Hopkins University
Oct 18, 2020
 Positions National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU), invites applications for several postdoctoral positions

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