Looking increasingly likely that in any race to discover Gravitational waves that this whole undertaking will be well beaten by Advanced LIGO if results pan out.http://gizmodo.com/rumors-are-flying-that-we-may-have-finally-found-gravit-1752259868
Quote from: Star One on 01/12/2016 09:36 amLooking increasingly likely that in any race to discover Gravitational waves that this whole undertaking will be well beaten by Advanced LIGO if results pan out.http://gizmodo.com/rumors-are-flying-that-we-may-have-finally-found-gravit-1752259868A. There is no such race.B. The chances of Advanced LIGO indeed having observed gravitational waves is estimated (as quoted in the article) to be 15 percent at most.
what happens next to the spent propulsion stage? solar orbit or a distant Earth orbit?
Not directly related to LISA Pathfinder or spaceflight at all, but rumours about Advanced LIGO detection are getting stronger and more specific. Supposedly, the announcement will be next week (Thursday?).
The team are getting ready for the first test mass release #GOLPF
Test mass 2 is free and under control. Many happy faces in the PISA!! #GOLPF
2016-03-01 08:00:00UTC.....Science Operations have started!
LISA Pathfinder, however, is not capable of detecting gravitational waves itself. For this crucial technology demonstration, the two freefalling cubes are only 38 cm apart – too close to record the minute wobbles in the fabric of spacetime.The variation in distance caused by a passing gravitational wave is so small that a full-scale space observatory will need test masses separated by roughly a million kilometres, and be able to detect changes in that separation of about one millionth of a millionth of a metre.“The precision we need to attain for future observations of gravitational waves from space is so high that it demands an unprecedented understanding of the physical forces at play on the test masses,” says Paul McNamara, ESA’s Project Scientist.
“We are looking forward to demonstrating this thruster system and its ability to keep the two test masses extremely still,” says Charles Dunn, project technologist for the DRS at JPL.The results of LISA Pathfinder's precision experiments will pave the way towards the L3 mission in ESA’s Cosmic Vision programme, a future project that will be dedicated to investigating the gravitational Universe by means of a large spaceborne observatory.