LISA Technology Package - components of Inertial Sensor Head
Date: 28 September 2013
Satellite: LISA Pathfinder
Copyright: CGS SpA
Construction of one of the electrode housing enclosures of the Inertial Sensor Head of the LISA Technology Package (LTP).
The LTP, provided by European institutes and industry, is one of two payloads, or test packages, that will be carried by the LISA Pathfinder spacecraft; the other package is the Disturbance Reduction System (DRS), provided by NASA.
LISA Pathfinder is designed to test one of the key ideas behind gravitational wave detectors – that free particles follow geodesics in space-time. The mission can show this more accurately than has been done in the past by tracking two test masses nominally in freefall, using picometre resolution laser interferometry.
The electrode housing is used to measure (electrostatically) the position, in all six degrees of freedom, of each test mass within an inertial sensor head. These measurements, along with the laser interferometric measurements, are used in a feedback loop to command micro-propulsion thrusters to enable the spacecraft to remain centred on the test mass.
An industrial team led by the prime contractor, Airbus DS - Stevenage, is building LISA Pathfinder. Airbus DS – Friedrichshafen is the payload architect for the LISA Technology Package (LTP). The inertial sensors, including the electrode housing, are provided by CGS (Milan).
