ESA Science & Technology - Objectives

To this end, LISA Pathfinder carries the LISA Technology Package (LTP), a set of micropropulsion thrusters and drag-free control software provided by European institutes and industry, and a Disturbance Reduction System (DRS) composed of micropropulsion thrusters and drag-free control software, provided by NASA.

The mission goals for LISA Pathfinder are:

• Demonstrate drag-free and attitude control in a spacecraft with two test masses in order to isolate the masses from inertial disturbances
  • LISA Pathfinder performance required
    3×10^-14 ms^-2 Hz^-1/2, rising with frequency squared (f²) above 3 mHz, over the measurement bandwidth of 1-30 mHz
  • Future mission performance required
    3×10^-15 ms^-2 Hz^-1/2, rising with frequency squared (f²) above 3 mHz, over the measurement bandwidth of 0.1 mHz - 1 Hz
• Demonstrate the feasibility of performing laser interferometry in the required low-frequency regime with a performance as close as possible to 10^-12 m Hz^-1/2 in the frequency band 1-30 mHz.
• Assess the longevity and reliability of the capacitive sensors, thrusters, lasers and optics in the space environment