The LISA mission (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) has just been officially accepted by ESA‘s (European Space Agency) Science Programme Committee. For LISA, one of the most ambitious scientific instruments ever conceived, this marks the start of a long process of final design and integration of the instrument, leading to a launch planned for 2035 on Ariane 6.
LISA will hunt for gravitational waves in space. Gravitational waves are ripples in spacetime produced by extreme astrophysical events, such as the coalescence of black holes. They were directly detected the first time in 2015 by the LIGO interferometers, that measure tiny variations of the optical path within their 4 km arms. LISA takes this concept of interferometry to the quiet environment of space. With its arms of 2.5 million kilometers, LISA will open a new window on the gravitational universe at low frequencies, and the scientific community expects that LISA will revolutionize our understanding of black holes and of the early Universe.
Researchers and engineers from L2IT are heavily involved in the LISA mission, on both the instrumental and the data analysis sides of the project. They are eager to participate in the next stages of this adventure!
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