LISA Pathfinder, ready for launch. In this image, taken with an ultra-wide angle fisheye lens on November 19, the spacecraft is hidden from view, encapsulated in the ‘upper composite’ of its Vega rocket. Only the aerodynamic fairing at the top of the fully assembled launcher is visible, while the lower stages are hidden by the movable access platform. The hose is part of the air conditioning system that regulates the environment inside the fairing. Image and caption via ESA.
ESA’s LISA Pathfinder is nearing its launch time at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The spacecraft is ESA’s technology demonstrator, designed to pave the way for detecting gravitational waves – ripples in the curvature of spacetime, propagating outward as waves from a mass – from objects in space. Liftoff is planned for December 2, 2015 at 04:15 GMT (12:15 a.m. EST Wednesday morning, 11:15 p.m. CST Tuesday evening).
LISA Pathfinder is the forerunning of a planned gravitational-wave observatory eLISA that ESA says will one day capture the sound of the universe. With the upcoming launch rides more than 10 years of scientific development by the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute) in Hannover and other institutions. Karsten Danzmann, director at the Albert Einstein Institute and professor at Leibniz Universität Hannover, said in a November 27 statement:
With LISA Pathfinder we will demonstrate crucial technologies for future missions such as eLISA and will be one large step closer to the detection of gravitational waves from space.
The ESA statement continued:
After its launch on December 2, LISA Pathfinder (LPF) will be in a near-Earth parking orbit and will separate from the launcher after two hours. Starting on December 6, a series of six thruster burns will repeatedly raise the orbit’s apogee within five days.
After this, LPF will leave orbit around the Earth and drift on a transfer orbit towards the Lagrange point L1, 1.5 million kilometers from Earth towards the Sun. After about 40 days the satellite will arrive there and assume an orbit around L1. This offers ideal conditions for LISA Pathfinder’s main task: releasing two test masses in perfect free fall and to measure and control their positions with unprecedented precision.
Good luck, LISA Pathfinder!
Bottom line: LISA Pathfinder – forerunning of a mission that, it is hoped, will detect gravitational waves from space, will launch on December 2, 2015 at 04:15 GMT (12:15 a.m. EST, 11:15 p.m. CST on December 1).
from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1NFKhlr
LISA Pathfinder, ready for launch. In this image, taken with an ultra-wide angle fisheye lens on November 19, the spacecraft is hidden from view, encapsulated in the ‘upper composite’ of its Vega rocket. Only the aerodynamic fairing at the top of the fully assembled launcher is visible, while the lower stages are hidden by the movable access platform. The hose is part of the air conditioning system that regulates the environment inside the fairing. Image and caption via ESA.
ESA’s LISA Pathfinder is nearing its launch time at Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The spacecraft is ESA’s technology demonstrator, designed to pave the way for detecting gravitational waves – ripples in the curvature of spacetime, propagating outward as waves from a mass – from objects in space. Liftoff is planned for December 2, 2015 at 04:15 GMT (12:15 a.m. EST Wednesday morning, 11:15 p.m. CST Tuesday evening).
LISA Pathfinder is the forerunning of a planned gravitational-wave observatory eLISA that ESA says will one day capture the sound of the universe. With the upcoming launch rides more than 10 years of scientific development by the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute) in Hannover and other institutions. Karsten Danzmann, director at the Albert Einstein Institute and professor at Leibniz Universität Hannover, said in a November 27 statement:
With LISA Pathfinder we will demonstrate crucial technologies for future missions such as eLISA and will be one large step closer to the detection of gravitational waves from space.
The ESA statement continued:
After its launch on December 2, LISA Pathfinder (LPF) will be in a near-Earth parking orbit and will separate from the launcher after two hours. Starting on December 6, a series of six thruster burns will repeatedly raise the orbit’s apogee within five days.
After this, LPF will leave orbit around the Earth and drift on a transfer orbit towards the Lagrange point L1, 1.5 million kilometers from Earth towards the Sun. After about 40 days the satellite will arrive there and assume an orbit around L1. This offers ideal conditions for LISA Pathfinder’s main task: releasing two test masses in perfect free fall and to measure and control their positions with unprecedented precision.
Good luck, LISA Pathfinder!
Bottom line: LISA Pathfinder – forerunning of a mission that, it is hoped, will detect gravitational waves from space, will launch on December 2, 2015 at 04:15 GMT (12:15 a.m. EST, 11:15 p.m. CST on December 1).
from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1NFKhlr
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