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| ESA SP-1323: ESA's Report to the 39th COSPAR Meeting |
The 39th meeting of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) was held 14-22 July 2012 in Mysore, India.
This report to COSPAR on the scientific activities of the European Space Agency was written by members of the Directorate of Earth Observation, the Directorate of Human Spaceflight and Operations and the Directorate of Science and Robotic Exploration.
Contents:
- Foreword by Jean-Jacques Dordain, Director General, ESA
- Earth Observation
- Introduction
- The Living Planet Programme
- The Earth Explorer Missions
- ERS and Envisat
- Human Spaceflight and Operations
- Introduction
- Overview: Columbus and ISS Facilities
- Funding Europe's ISS Research: ELIPS
- Research on the ISS
- Ongoing Research Using Other Platforms
- Projects under Development
- Science and Robotic Exploration
- Introduction
- Missions in Operation
- Missions in the Post-Operations and Archiving Phases
- Projects under Development
- Missions under Study
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| Publication date: 30 Jun 2012 |
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| The LISA Pathfinder Mission - Tracing Einstein's Geodesics in Space |
| 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. |
| Publication date: 31 Mar 2010 |
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| LISA Pathfinder: the experiment and the route to LISA |
| LISA Pathfinder (LPF) is a science and technology demonstrator planned by the European Space Agency in view of the LISA mission. As a scientific payload, the LISA Technology Package on board LPF will be the most precise geodesics explorer flown as of today, both in terms of displacement and acceleration sensitivity. The challenges embodied by LPF make it a unique mission, paving the way towards the space-borne detection of gravitational waves with LISA. This paper summarizes the basics of LPF, and the progress made in preparing its effective implementation in flight. We hereby give an overview of the experiment philosophy and assumptions to carry on the measurement. We report on the mission plan and hardware design advances and on the progress on detailing measurements and operations. Some light will be shed on the related data processing algorithms. In particular, we show how to single out the acceleration noise from the spacecraft motion perturbations, how to account for dynamical deformation parameters distorting the measurement reference and how to decouple the actuation noise via parabolic free flight. |
| Publication date: 07 May 2009 |
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| Overview of LISA Pathfinder (LISA-LPF-RP-0001) |
| An overview of the LISA Pathfinder mission written by Paul McNamara (LISA Pathfinder Project Scientist).
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| Publication date: 29 Apr 2009 |
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| Introduction to LISA Pathfinder (LISA-LPF-RP-0002) |
| An introduction to the LISA Pathfinder mission written by Giuseppe Racca (LPF Project Manager) and Paul McNamara (LPF Project Scientist).
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| Publication date: 30 Mar 2009 |
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| ESA's report to the 37th COSPAR meeting - LISA Pathfinder section |
| ESA's report to the 37th COSPAR meeting (13-20 July 2008) covers the missions of the Science Programme of ESA. This section contains the report on the LISA Pathfinder mission. |
| Publication date: 01 Aug 2008 |
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| LISA Pathfinder (Invited paper - 7th Edoardo Amaldi Conference) |
| LISA Pathfinder (formerly known as SMART-2) is an ESA mission designed to pave the way for the joint ESA/NASA Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission by testing in-flight the critical technologies required for spaceborne
gravitational wave detection; it will put two test masses in a nearperfect gravitational free fall, and control and measure their motion with an unprecedented accuracy. This is achieved through technology comprising inertial sensors, high-precision laser metrology, drag-free control and an ultraprecise micro-Newton propulsion system. The LISA Pathfinder mission is now in Phase C/Dthe Implementation Phase, and is due to be launched in 2010, with results on the performance of the system being available within 6 months thereafter. |
| Publication date: 07 Jun 2008 |
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| Gravitational astronomy: Hearing the heavens |
| LISA is perhaps the most ambitious space mission envisaged for the coming decades. A recent assessment of astrophysics research proposed for NASA's Beyond Einstein programme by America's National Research Council (NRC) gave the "extraordinarily original and technically bold" project its highest scientific ranking. Under joint development by NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA), LISA's goal is to detect gravitational waves - fluctuations in the fabric of space and time - by measuring the relative motions of three spacecraft with great precision. Although that assessment carried out by the NRC saw LISA as the "least scientifically risky" of the proposals for future flagship missions, there is no getting away from the fact that no one has ever tried anything remotely similar before. |
| Publication date: 05 Mar 2008 |
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| The Science Case for LISA Pathfinder |
| The project science team has revisited the science case for LISA Pathfinder and produced this document on the scientific and technological goals of the mission.
Abstract:
LISA Pathfinder is an experiment to demonstrate
Einstein's geodesic motion in space more than two orders of magnitude better than any past, present, or planned experiment, except for LISA. The concept that a particle falling under the influence of gravity alone follows a geodesic in spacetime is at the foundation of general relativity, our best model of gravitation, yet.
LISA Pathfinder's experiment concept is to prove geodesic motion by tracking two test-masses nominally in free-fall through laser interferometry with picometre distance resolution. LISA Pathfinder will show that the relative parasitic acceleration between the masses, at frequencies around 1 mHz, is at least two orders of magnitude smaller than the value demonstrated so far or to be demonstrated by any planned mission.
LISA Pathfinder hardware has been designed to be transferred directly to LISA. However, it is obvious that many other possibilities are opened by the results of LISA Pathfinder. LISA Pathfinder is a mission both in general relativity and in precision metrology and will open the ground for an entirely new generation of missions not just in general relativity, but in fundamental physics at large and in Earth observation. |
| Publication date: 23 Jan 2007 |
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| ESA SP-1296: ESA's Report to the 36th COSPAR Meeting |
Scientific editor: R. Marsden
Editor: A. Wilson
The report for the 36th COSPAR Meeting covers, as in previous issues, the missions of the Scientific Programme of ESA in the areas of astronomy, Solar System science and fundamental physics. This year's COSPAR meeting will take place only weeks before the end of the SMART-1 mission to the Moon, a technology project that provided the first European look at our natural satellite from lunar orbit.In October of this year, a new mission will be launched: COROT. ESA, together with a number of countries, is contributing to this unique, French-led project that will provide an insight into the interior of the stars, by means of the asteroseismology technique successfully applied by SOHO. COROT will also perform a systematic search for new extrasolar planets using photometric transits.
The record number of ESA Science Programme missions in operation established at the time of the last report was maintained in 2006 (Huygens having been replaced in the list by Venus Express). Eleven different missions, involving 14 operating spacecraft, are providing excellent science to the worldwide scientific community. The Research and Scientific Support Department (RSSD) is responsible for the science operations of these missions and makes every effort to ensure the best possible science return. The Department also supports the realisation of approved projects in all phases of their development. |
| Publication date: 15 Jun 2006 |
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| ESA SP-1276: ESA's Report to the 35th COSPAR Meeting |
Scientific editor: A. Gimenez
Editor: A. Wilson
The report for the 35th COSPAR Meeting covers, as in previous issues, the missions
of the Scientific Programme of ESA in the areas of astronomy, Solar System
exploration and fundamental physics. This year's COSPAR Meeting occurs only
weeks after the Saturn-orbit insertion of the Cassini spacecraft - carrying Europe's
Huygens probe to explore the atmosphere of Titan - and at the same time as the
launch of the second satellite of the Double Star project. |
| Publication date: 15 Jun 2004 |
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| ESA SP-1259: ESA's Report to the 34th COSPAR Meeting |
Scientific editor: B. Foing
Editor: A. Wilson
The report to the 34th COSPAR Meeting covers the missions of the Scientific Programme of ESA in the areas of astronomy, Solar System exploration and fundamental physics. |
| Publication date: 01 Oct 2002 |
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