ESA Science & Technology - News Archive
News archive
News archive
Professor Stefano Vitale, principal investigator of ESA's LISA Pathfinder and currently the chair of ESA's Science Programme Committee, has been honoured with the 2020 Tycho Brahe Medal for leading the ambitious mission that demonstrated technology to detect gravitational waves from space.
Published: 6 March 2020
The LISA Pathfinder mission already outperformed itself in the first week of operations, and now the final report card is in, showing that it even surpassed some of the requirements for its next-generation successor.
Published: 5 February 2018
ESA's LISA Pathfinder mission has been honoured with the 2017 Space Technology Award of the American Astronautical Society.
Published: 24 January 2018
After sixteen months of science operations, LISA Pathfinder will complete its mission on 30 June, having successfully demonstrated the technology to build ESA's future space observatory of gravitational waves.
Published: 20 June 2017
On 7 December, LISA Pathfinder started the extended phase of its mission, an additional six months during which scientists and engineers will push the experiment to its limits in preparation for ESA's future space observatory of gravitational waves.
Published: 13 December 2016
Today, ESA's LISA Pathfinder Science Archive opens its virtual gates to the world. It contains data collected by the satellite during the mission's first few months, covering the nominal operations phase of the LISA Technology Package (LTP) – the European payload on LISA Pathfinder.
Published: 7 October 2016
On Saturday 25 June, the LISA Technology Package – a European payload on ESA's LISA Pathfinder – completes its nominal operations phase, passing the baton to the Disturbance Reduction System, an additional experiment provided by NASA.
Published: 24 June 2016
ESA's LISA Pathfinder mission has demonstrated the technology needed to build a space-based gravitational wave observatory.
Published: 7 June 2016
France's Microscope satellite, carrying a set of ESA high-tech thrusters, lifted off last night from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, taking advantage of the same Soyuz launch that took the EU's Sentinel-1B into orbit.
Published: 26 April 2016
Following a long series of tests, ESA's LISA Pathfinder has started its science mission to prove key technologies and techniques needed to observe gravitational waves from space.
Published: 8 March 2016
On Monday, the two cubes housed in the core of ESA's LISA Pathfinder were left to move under the effect of gravity alone – another milestone towards demonstrating technologies to observe gravitational waves from space.
Published: 24 February 2016
ESA's LISA Pathfinder has released both of its gold–platinum cubes, and will shortly begin its demanding science mission, placing these test masses in the most precise freefall ever obtained to demonstrate technologies for observing gravitational waves from space.
Published: 16 February 2016
ESA is thrilled to learn that gravitational waves have been detected, and is looking forward to starting its mission to test technologies that could extend the study of these exotic waves to space.
Published: 11 February 2016
Today, the lock fingers that kept the two test masses on LISA Pathfinder secure during the launch and cruise phase were successfully unlocked. As planned, the two cubes are still attached to the spacecraft via an additional mechanism that will hold them in place until mid February, as the teams carry on with the spacecraft and payload...
Published: 3 February 2016
After a six-week journey, LISA Pathfinder arrived at its destination today, an orbit around a point of balance in space where it will soon start testing technologies crucial for exploring the gravitational Universe.
Published: 22 January 2016
While LISA Pathfinder is en route to its operational orbit, the science and engineering teams are testing the systems on the spacecraft. This week, they will begin to switch on elements of the science payload, including the laser that will be used to monitor the most precise free-fall motion ever obtained in space.
Published: 12 January 2016
ESA’s LISA Pathfinder blasted off on 3 December at 04:04 GMT (05:04 CET) on a Vega rocket that delivered it to a low-Earth parking orbit. As part of the spacecraft commissioning, the control team at ESOC is collecting data from the star-trackers, and so obtained a one-of-a-kind image of Earth, its atmosphere and the starry sky.
Published: 5 December 2015
ESA's LISA Pathfinder lifted off earlier today on a Vega rocket from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on its way to demonstrate technology for observing gravitational waves from space.
Published: 3 December 2015
Checks carried out for ESA’s LISA Pathfinder mission have provided satisfactory results.
Published: 2 December 2015
During the final step of VV06 launch campaign, a technical issue on the Vega launch vehicle required additional analysis. The launch initially scheduled for December 2, 2015 is postponed.
Published: 1 December 2015
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