ESA begins building LISA to track gravitational waves from deep space
Under the newly signed agreement, OHB will finalize LISA's spacecraft design and begin industrial development, working closely with ESA and the scientific LISA team.
"We are immensely proud that ESA and the scientific community entrust us to implement this groundbreaking science mission. Together with our partners we stand ready to bring LISA to life - pioneering our ability to 'surf gravitational waves' and enabling us to see our Universe in a new way," said Chiara Pedersoli, CEO of OHB System AG.
"I'm delighted to celebrate the contract signing with our partners at OHB who will lead on the implementation of this truly ambitious endeavour," added Prof. Carole Mundell, ESA's Director of Science. "LISA represents many years of pioneering technology developments, hope and belief of our scientific community, and steadfast support from our ESA member states. As the first space mission designed to capture gravitational waves, LISA will open a brand-new window on the dark Universe and test the known laws of physics to their extreme."
Once operational, LISA will mark a major achievement in precision engineering and international collaboration, placing Europe at the forefront of both space science and technological innovation.
Unlike ground-based detectors, LISA will measure low-frequency gravitational waves inaccessible from Earth, providing insight into a wider variety of cosmic events, from the merger history of black holes across cosmic time to the internal dynamics of compact binary systems within our own galaxy. The mission will also contribute to research on the expansion rate of the Universe and the behavior of gravity under extreme conditions.
LISA's ambitious design features a constellation of three spacecraft arranged in an equilateral triangle, each separated by 2.5 million kilometers and orbiting the Sun behind Earth. These craft will exchange laser beams across the massive distances in an unprecedented application of laser interferometry.
Each spacecraft houses two free-floating test masses-gold-platinum cubes isolated within protective housings. Gravitational waves passing through the system will cause minuscule changes in the cubes' relative positions. By monitoring these shifts using laser beams and interferometry, scientists will be able to detect distortions in spacetime as small as a few billionths of a millimeter over millions of kilometers.
Scheduled for launch in 2035 aboard an Ariane 6 rocket, LISA represents the Large-class mission in ESA's Cosmic Vision program. It is a cooperative effort involving ESA, its member nations, NASA, and the international LISA consortium. The core industrial team includes OHB System AG and Thales Alenia Space.
Related Links
ESA's Laser Interferometer Space Antenna
The Physics of Time and Space
