News

LISA Pathfinder takes major step in hunt for gravitational waves

14. November 2011
News: ESA press anouncement sensors

Lisa Pathfinder being prepared for space environmant testing. Credit: Astrium UK

Sensors destined for ESA's LISA Pathfinder mission in 2014 have exceeded expectations in performance testing

LISA Pathfinder is paving the way for a mission to detect one of the most elusive forces permeating through space - gravitational waves.

The Optical Metrology Subsystem underwent its first full tests under space-like temperature and vacuum conditions using an almost complete version of the spacecraft.

The results exceeded the extreme precision required to detect the enigmatic ripples in the fabric of space and time predicted by Albert Einstein - and did it by two to three times.


Further information:

On the ESA website

Link to LISA Pathfinder article on www.elisa-ngo.org