The LISA Pathfinder Mission |
| |
Authors: | Giuseppe D Racca Paul W McNamara |
| |
Institution: | 1. LISA Pathfinder Project Manager, European Space Agency - ESTEC, Keplerlaan 1, 2201 AZ, Noordwijk, The Netherlands 2. LISA Pathfinder Project Scientist, European Space Agency - ESTEC, Keplerlaan 1, 2201 AZ, Noordwijk, The Netherlands
|
| |
Abstract: | LISA Pathfinder, formerly known as SMART-2, is the second of the European Space Agency’s Small Missions for Advance Research and Technology, and is designed to pave the way for the joint ESA/NASA Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission, by testing the core assumption of gravitational wave detection and general relativity: that free particles follow geodesics. The new technologies to be demonstrated in a space environment include: inertial sensors, high precision laser interferometry to free floating mirrors, and micro-Newton proportional thrusters. LISA Pathfinder will be launched on a dedicated launch vehicle in late 2011 into a low Earth orbit. By a transfer trajectory, the sciencecraft will enter its final orbit around the first Sun-Earth Lagrange point. First science results are expected approximately 3 months thereafter. Here, we give an overview of the mission including the technologies being demonstrated. |
| |
Keywords: | |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|