ESA Science & Technology - LISA: Detecting and observing gravitational waves

Publication date: 16 August 2000

Journal: ESA Brochure
Volume: 164
Page: 6-11
Year: 2000

Copyright: ESA

The Mission Summary of the Cornerstone Study Results: LISA.

The primary goal of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission is to detect and observe gravitational waves from massive black holes and galactic binaries in the frequency range 10^-4 to 10^-1 Hz. This low-frequency range is inaccessible to groundbased interferometers because of the unshieldable background of local gravitational noise, and because ground-based interferometers are limited in length to a few kilometres.