OPENSPACE 24: The Future of Space Exploration | Page 42

LISA PATHFINDER SETS
THE PATH FOR A NEW
ASTRONOMY ERA
Being able to detect gravitational waves
from space will open a new door in our
understanding of the universe
LISA has
received the
green light
and will
continue
the legacy
of LISA
Pathfinder.
S
tefano
Vitale,
Pathfinder’s of space-time moving at the speed of light
principal investigator, sent the final caused by the acceleration of massive objects.
instructions to the spacecraft on Scientists have been hunting gravitational
July 18 from the European Space Operations waves for decades. It wasn’t until 2015 that
Center in Darmstadt, Germany. The pioneering they were detected for the first time through the
LISA Pathfinder mission had come to an end, Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-
and it marked a turning point for the future Wave Observatory (LIGO) located in the United
study of the universe. The mission exceeded States. The LIGO detections finally confirmed
all scientific expectations, demonstrating the Einstein’s predictions, and the three American
key technologies needed to detect gravitational scientists responsible for this breakthrough
waves were recognized with the Nobel prize in physics
from
space
with
unprecedented
accuracy.
Being able to detect
42
LISA
in 2017.
gravitational
waves Then LISA Pathfinder demonstrated that
from space will open a new door in our we can detect gravitational waves from space.
understanding of the universe. First predicted by The spacecraft carried a laser interferometer
Albert Einstein in his general theory of relativity, to measure the behavior of two platinum
gravitational waves are oscillations in the fabric gold free-falling blocks. Placed 38 cm apart,