LISA Pathfinder Exceeds Expectationshttp://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/LISA_Pathfinder_exceeds_expectations
The 22-nation European Space Agency has said a laser-interferometry mission featuring three spacecraft millions of kilometers apart and linked by lasers is their preferred next selection for Large-class mission.But while Lisa Pathfinder’s ability to eliminate most surrounding noise, including that caused by gas molecules, during its nearly three months of operations argues heavily in favor of a full-blown Lisa mission, other technologies need to be proven before the full observatory is given go-ahead approval.
Asked whether a national 2034 date could not be moved forward by five years, to 2029, Favata said the technologies challenges remaining are probably too formidable to make the earlier date.Favata said ESA will spend the next three or four years examining how close they are to reaching the technology readiness level for the Lisa mission components. Once a go-ahead is decided, a 10-year development effort would begin.
Favata said ESA expects NASA will also be a partner on the full Lisa observatory for 2034. Details are yet to be finalized. ESA’s Large-class missions are budgeted at aroun 900 million euros, plus whatever contributions are made by national European laboratories and national space agencies in Europe.
The first videos in the above two posts are both showing 400 error?
Quote from: Star One on 06/07/2016 09:32 pmThe first videos in the above two posts are both showing 400 error?they work for me
... both parties introduced the respective gravitational wave detection plans and agreed that there is a cooperation possibility in this area.
FINDING 4-9: The dissolution of the U.S. LISA project, and the attendant loss of science and technology funding, has severely impacted preparations for a space gravitational wave mission. If this situation persists, the options for significant U.S. participation in this revolutionary discovery area will be limited.
RECOMMENDATION 4-4: NASA should restore support this decade for gravitational wave research that enables the U.S. community to be a strong technical and scientific partner in the European Space Agency (ESA)-led L3 mission, consistent with LISA’s high priority in the 2010 report New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics (NWNH). One goal of U.S. participation should be the restoration of the full scientific capability of the mission as envisioned by NWNH.
This week, at the 11th LISA symposium in Zürich, Switzerland, a NASA official said he was ready to rejoin the LISA mission, which the agency left in 2011. Meanwhile, ESA says it is trying to move the launch of the mission up several years from 2034. “This is a very important meeting,” says David Shoemaker, a gravitational wave physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. “It feels like a turning point.”
NASA moves to rejoin sped-up gravitational wave missionQuoteThis week, at the 11th LISA symposium in Zürich, Switzerland, a NASA official said he was ready to rejoin the LISA mission, which the agency left in 2011. Meanwhile, ESA says it is trying to move the launch of the mission up several years from 2034. “This is a very important meeting,” says David Shoemaker, a gravitational wave physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. “It feels like a turning point.”http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/09/nasa-moves-rejoin-sped-gravitational-wave-mission
Quote from: Star One on 09/12/2016 06:26 amNASA moves to rejoin sped-up gravitational wave missionQuoteThis week, at the 11th LISA symposium in Zürich, Switzerland, a NASA official said he was ready to rejoin the LISA mission, which the agency left in 2011. Meanwhile, ESA says it is trying to move the launch of the mission up several years from 2034. “This is a very important meeting,” says David Shoemaker, a gravitational wave physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. “It feels like a turning point.”http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/09/nasa-moves-rejoin-sped-gravitational-wave-missionI truly hope this time NASA keeps its word support.
On 7 December, LISA Pathfinder started the extended phase of its mission, an additional six months during which scientists and engineers will push the experiment to its limits in preparation for ESA's future space observatory of gravitational waves.
..., on 25 June, the first operations phase, using the LISA Technology Package (LTP), was completed. The LTP is a European payload consisting of the test masses, inertial sensors, and laser interferometer, and uses a series of cold-gas micronewton thrusters to move the satellite and keep it centred on the cubes, in response to external and internal forces battering them around.Operations continued with NASA's Disturbance Reduction System (DRS), an additional experiment which receives measurement input from the inertial sensors of the LTP but employs its own micronewton thrusters based on colloidal technology.Following completion of the DRS operations, the extended mission of LISA Pathfinder began on 7 December 2016, at 09:00 CET (08:00 UTC). It will last until 31 May 2017, making use of both the LTP and DRS payloads.
Jeff Foust – @jeff_foustShoemaker: goal of LISA tech dev work is to enable earliest possible launch date: as soon as 2029, depending on budget. #apsapril
Jeff Foust – @jeff_foustDavid Shoemaker, MIT: proposal to ESA for LISA assumes a 20% NASA contribution; max allowed by ESA. #apsapril
Jeff Foust – @jeff_foustPaul McNamara, ESA: LISA Pathfinder end of mission planned for April with maneuver to drift spacecraft away from Earth-Sun L1. #apsapril