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ESA and NASA Greenlight LISA Mission to Detect Gravitational Waves from Space

The first space-based observatory, set to launch in 2035, will enable unprecedented observations of cosmic events and probe the universe's earliest moments.

ESA's LISA mission to detect ripples caused by clashing stars, a first
Golden cubes inside each spacecraft will help the LISA mission detect gravitational waves.
An artist's illustration depicts the EnVision mission to Venus, which will help scientists understand why Earth's most similar planetary neighbor in size is so different from our world.
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Overview

  • ESA and NASA have greenlit the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission, the first space-based observatory designed to detect gravitational waves.
  • LISA will consist of three spacecraft flying in a triangular formation, each separated by more than a million miles. The spacecraft will track internal test masses affected only by gravity and will fire lasers to measure their separations.
  • The mission will enable observations of gravitational waves produced by merging supermassive black holes and other cosmic events, offering a direct glimpse into the very first seconds after the Big Bang.
  • Work to build the instruments and the three spacecraft for the LISA mission will begin in 2025, with the launch planned for 2035.
  • LISA's unprecedented sensitivity will open a window to some of the faintest ripples originating from events in the epoch of cosmic dawn and probe some of cosmology's biggest and most pressing questions.