* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: LISA Pathfinder

Blobrana · L

NASA Team Explores Using LISA Pathfinder as 'Comet Crumb' Detector

LISA Pathfinder, a mission led by ESA (the European Space Agency) with contributions from NASA, has successfully demonstrated critical technologies needed to build a space-based observatory for detecting ripples in space-time called gravitational waves. Now a team of NASA scientists hopes to take advantage of the spacecraft's record-breaking sensitivity to map out the distribution of tiny dust particles shed by asteroids and comets far from Earth.
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Liftoff for LISA Pathfinder 03 December 2015

Blobrana · L

Lisa Pathfinder set to test space 'ripples' technology

Europe is about to launch the Lisa Pathfinder satellite, an exquisite space physics experiment.
It will test the technologies needed to detect gravitational waves - the warping of space-time produced by cataclysmic events in the cosmos.
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Blobrana · L

VV06 launch postponed

During the final step of VV06 launch campaign, a technical issue on the Vega launch vehicle required additional analysis. The launch initially scheduled for December 2, 2015 is postponed.
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Blobrana · L

Watch ESA #LISAPathfinder launch 2 Dec from 03:55 GMT https://t.co/s7DqfTKDhh & media briefing from ESOC 05:45 GMT https://t.co/LcI6dYxS8L
ESA_LPF (@ESA_LPF) December 1, 2015

Blobrana · L

Lisa Pathfinder: Gravity quest set to go into orbit

Europe is ready to launch its most exquisite satellite mission yet.
Lisa Pathfinder is a fundamental physics experiment that will test the technology needed to detect gravitational waves - what are sometimes referred to as ripples in the curvature of space-time.
Scientists and engineers have declared the demonstrator ready to fly after more than a decade of development.
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Blobrana · L

Lisa Pathfinder: 'Exquisite' gravity probe leaves UK

British industry has completed construction of the modules that make up the Lisa Pathfinder satellite.
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LISA Pathfinder takes major step in hunt for gravity waves

Sensors destined for ESA's LISA Pathfinder mission in 2014 have far exceeded expectations, paving the way for a mission to detect one of the most elusive forces permeating through space - gravity 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.
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Tuning an 'Ear' to the Music of Gravitational Waves

A team of scientists and engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has brought the world one step closer to "hearing" gravitational waves -- ripples in space and time predicted by Albert Einstein in the early 20th century.
The research, performed in a lab at JPL in Pasadena, Calif., tested a system of lasers that would fly aboard the proposed space mission called Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, or LISA. The mission's goal is to detect the subtle, whisper-like signals of gravitational waves, which have yet to be directly observed. This is no easy task, and many challenges lie ahead.
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