Reducing the flexing of the arms of LISA

Details Reducing the flexing of the arms of LISA Reducing the flexing of the arms of LISA

2005-07-25

arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0507105v1

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology

Scientific paper

The joint NASA-ESA mission LISA relies crucially on the stability of the three spacecraft constellation. All three spacecraft are on heliocentric and weakly eccentric orbits forming a stable triangle. It has been shown that for certain spacecraft orbits, the arms keep constant distances to the first order in the eccentricities. However, exact orbitography shows the so-called `breathing modes' of the arms where the arms slowly change their lengths over the time-scale of a year. In this paper we analyse the breathing modes (the flexing of the arms) with the help of the geodesic deviation equations to octupole order which are shown to be equivalent to higher order Clohessy-Wiltshire equations. We show that the flexing of the arms of LISA as given by the `exact' solution of Keplerian orbits, which gives constant armlengths to the first order in eccentricity and whose maximum flexing amplitude is $\sim 115,000$ km, can be improved, by tilting the plane of the LISA triangle slightly from the proposed orientation of $60^\circ$ with the ecliptic to obtain a maximum flexing amplitude of $\sim 48,000$ km, reducing it by a factor of $\sim 2.4$. The reduction factor is even larger if we consider the corresponding Doppler shifts, for which the reduction factor reaches almost a factor of 6. We solve the second order equations and obtain the general solution. We then use the general solution to establish the optimality of the solutions that we have found.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Reducing the flexing of the arms of LISA 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 Reducing the flexing of the arms of LISA, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Reducing the flexing of the arms of LISA will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-53055