Other
Scientific paper
Jun 2004
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004xmm..pres...12.&link_type=abstract
XMM Press Release SNR 12-2004
Other
Scientific paper
LISA Pathfinder, the second of ESA’s small missions for advanced research and technology, is an in-orbit demonstrator of the key technologies for LISA. It will test general concepts and technologies for highly accurate formation flying and precise measurement of the separation between two very distant spacecraft. But instead of a separation of five million kilometres, as this will be the case for LISA, LISA Pathfinder will use test masses only 30 centimetres apart and placed on a single spacecraft.
LISA Pathfinder will carry two very advanced instrument packages, each consisting of sensors, lasers and micro-thrusters. One is the LTP (LISA Test Package), a payload developed by ESA and the European scientific community using national funds; the other is the DRS (Disturbance Reduction System), an experiment developed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, United States. LISA Pathfinder will also test a set of thrusters used to control the spacecraft position with the precision of a millionth of a millimetre.
Once validated by this mission, the technology on board LISA Pathfinder will be ready to be used in the more complex and further-reaching LISA mission. LISA will be the world’s first space-based gravity wave detector, capable of detecting the ‘ripples’ in space given out by massive black holes and binary stars. Such ripples are called ‘gravitational waves’ and are a prediction of Einstein’s general relativity. LISA’s findings may eventually lead to a whole new way of looking at the Universe.
Notes to Editors:
LISA
The basic principle of LISA will be to measure the changes in distance between freely floating ‘test masses’ (small gold blocks held in place by carefully controlled electrostatic fields). These six test masses placed in three different spacecraft, forming a triangle five million kilometres away from one another, will be constantly monitored with high accuracy using laser-based techniques (“laser interferometry”). A gravitational wave passing through the spacecraft will change the separations between the masses, thereby revealing itself.
Involvement of European scientists in LISA Pathfinder
The LISA Test Package (LTP) involves scientists and industry from Italy, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Spain. The Co-Principal Investigators are Professor Stefano Vitale of Trento University, Italy, and Professor Karsten Danzmann of the Albert Einstein Institute in Hannover, Germany. Prof Danzmann is also the European Co-Chair of the LISA science team. The Italian contribution is funded by the Italian space agency (ASI) and the German contributions by DLR and the Max Planck Institute.
Industrial involvement in LISA Pathfinder
LISA Pathfinder involves an Industrial Core Team of EADS Astrium Ltd (prime systems and platform); EADS Astrium GmbH (LTP industrial lead and drag-free control system) and SciSys Ltd (software architecture). The full industrial team comprising companies across Europe will be assembled over the next year via competitive selection.
No affiliations
No associations
LandOfFree
ESA and EADS Astrium sign contract to build the LISA Pathfinder spacecraft does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with ESA and EADS Astrium sign contract to build the LISA Pathfinder spacecraft, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and ESA and EADS Astrium sign contract to build the LISA Pathfinder spacecraft will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1395689