[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” background_image=”https:\/\/www.ieec.cat\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/slider-comunicacio.jpg” max_height=”130px” custom_padding=”0px||0px||false|false” da_disable_devices=”off|off|off” global_colors_info=”{}” da_is_popup=”off” da_exit_intent=”off” da_has_close=”on” da_alt_close=”off” da_dark_close=”off” da_not_modal=”on” da_is_singular=”off” da_with_loader=”off” da_has_shadow=”on”][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”24px||11px|||” da_disable_devices=”off|off|off” global_colors_info=”{}” da_is_popup=”off” da_exit_intent=”off” da_has_close=”on” da_alt_close=”off” da_dark_close=”off” da_not_modal=”on” da_is_singular=”off” da_with_loader=”off” da_has_shadow=”on”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”||||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Unitats de recerca” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _dynamic_attributes=”content” _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|700||on|||||” text_font_size=”16px” header_font=”|700|||||||” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” header_font_size_tablet=”28px” header_font_size_phone=”26px” header_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” global_colors_info=”{}”]@ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50IjoiY3VzdG9tX21ldGFfb3JnYW5pemFjaW9uZXMiLCJzZXR0aW5ncyI6eyJiZWZvcmUiOiIiLCJhZnRlciI6IiIsImVuYWJsZV9odG1sIjoib2ZmIn19@[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_title author=”off” categories=”off” comments=”off” featured_image=”off” admin_label=”T\u00edtol i data” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” title_font=”Cairo|300|||||||” title_font_size=”40px” meta_font=”||on||||||” meta_font_size=”16px” title_font_size_tablet=”35px” title_font_size_phone=”30px” title_font_size_last_edited=”on|desktop” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_post_title][et_pb_text admin_label=”Subt\u00edtols” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Source Sans Pro||on||||||” text_font_size=”24px” text_line_height=”1.1em” text_font_size_tablet=”22px” text_font_size_phone=”20px” text_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_post_title title=”off” meta=”off” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” border_width_top=”10px” border_color_top=”#406fda” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_post_title][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”||||||||” text_font_size=”15px” text_line_height=”1.1em” background_color=”rgba(64,111,218,0.15)” custom_margin=”0px||||false|false” custom_padding=”30px|20px|30px|20px|true|true” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Caption:<\/strong> Artist’s impression of the LISA mission satellites in the solar system observing gravitational waves from a distant galaxy.<\/span> [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” link_font=”|700|||on||||” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n The <\/span>European Space Agency<\/span><\/a>\u2019s Science Programme Committee has approved today the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (<\/span>LISA<\/span><\/a>) mission, the first scientific endeavour to detect and study gravitational\u00a0 waves from space. ESA recognises through this step, formally called \u2018adoption\u2019, that the mission concept and\u00a0 technology are sufficiently advanced, and gives the <\/span>go-ahead to build the instruments and\u00a0 spacecraft<\/b>. This work will start in January 2025 once a European industrial contractor has\u00a0 been chosen.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n LISA is not just one spacecraft but a constellation of three. They will trail Earth in its orbit around the Sun, forming an exquisitely accurate equilateral triangle in space. Each side of\u00a0 the triangle will be 2.5 million km long (more than six times the Earth-Moon distance), and the spacecraft will exchange laser beams over this distance. <\/span>The launch of the three spacecraft is planned for 2035<\/b>, on an <\/span>Ariane 6<\/span><\/a> rocket.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n LISA is made possible by a collaboration between ESA, NASA, and an international consortium of scientists (<\/span>the LISA consortium<\/span><\/a>). The Spanish contribution is led by the <\/span>Institute of Space Sciences<\/span><\/a> (ICE-CSIC) through researchers who are members of the <\/span>Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia<\/span><\/a> (IEEC \u2014 Institut d\u2019Estudis Espacials de Catalunya). The <\/span>Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the University of Barcelona<\/span><\/a> (ICCUB) and the <\/span>Universitat Polit\u00e8cnica de Catalunya – BarcelonaTech<\/span><\/a> (UPC) also participate in the mission through researchers who are all affiliated members of the IEEC.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_font=”|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”25px” header_2_font_size_tablet=”23px” header_2_font_size_phone=”23px” header_2_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” link_font=”|700|||on||||” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Just over a century ago, the physicist Albert Einstein made the revolutionary prediction that when massive\u00a0 objects accelerate, they shake the fabric of spacetime, producing miniscule ripples known as\u00a0 gravitational waves. Thanks to modern technological developments, it is now possible\u00a0 to detect these most elusive of signals.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n LISA will detect, across the entire Universe, the ripples in spacetime caused when huge black\u00a0 holes at the centres of galaxies collide<\/b>. This will enable scientists to trace the origin of these\u00a0 objects, to chart how they grow to be millions of times more massive than the Sun and to establish the role they play in the evolution of galaxies.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cLISA is an endeavour that has never been tried before. Using laser beams over distances of\u00a0 tens of kilometres, ground-based instrumentation can detect gravitational waves coming\u00a0 from events involving star-sized objects \u2013 such as supernova explosions or merging of hyper dense stars and stellar-mass black holes. To expand the frontier of gravitational studies we\u00a0 must go to space,\u201d explains LISA lead project scientist Nora L\u00fctzgendorf.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The mission is poised to capture the predicted gravitational \u2018ringing\u2019 from the initial moments of our Universe<\/b> and offer a direct glimpse into the very first seconds after the Big Bang. Additionally, because gravitational waves carry information on the distance of the\u00a0 objects that emitted them, <\/span>LISA will help researchers measure the change in the expansion of the Universe with a different type of yardstick from the techniques used by the Euclid space mission and\u00a0 other surveys<\/b>, validating their results.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In our own galaxy, LISA will detect many merging pairs of compact objects\u00a0 like white dwarfs or neutron stars and give us a unique insight into the final stages of the evolution of these systems. By pinpointing their position and distances, LISA will further our grasp of the structure of the Milky Way.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n To detect gravitational waves, LISA will use pairs of solid gold-platinum cubes \u2013 so called test masses (slightly smaller than Rubik\u2019s cubes), free-floating in special housing at the heart of\u00a0 each spacecraft. Gravitational waves will cause tiny changes in the distances between the masses in the different spacecraft, and the mission will track these variations using laser interferometry.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This technique requires shooting laser beams from one spacecraft to the other and then\u00a0 superimposing their signal to determine changes in the masses\u2019 distances down to a few\u00a0 billionths of a millimetre. The spacecraft must be designed to ensure that nothing, besides the geometry of spacetime itself, affects the movement of the masses, which are in freefall.<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_font=”|700|||||||” header_2_font_size=”25px” header_2_font_size_tablet=”23px” header_2_font_size_phone=”23px” header_2_font_size_last_edited=”on|phone” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” link_font=”|700|||on||||” hover_enabled=”0″ locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n The Spanish contribution focuses on the Science Diagnostics Subsystem (SDS)<\/strong>, one of the three main flight subsystems. Its goal is to measure the environmental disturbances on board each satellite in the constellation<\/strong> in order to differentiate them from the effect that gravitational waves would produce. The SDS will have temperature, magnetic field and radiation sensors on each satellite.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIn order to detect gravitational waves, LISA will measure the displacement between free falling masses in each of the three satellites in space at an unprecedented level down to the picometre level, roughly speaking the size of atoms,\u201d says <\/span>Miquel Nofrarias<\/b>, experimental researcher at ICE-CSIC and IEEC, and member of the LISA Consortium. \u201cSDS sensors will have to reach levels of precision and stability also unprecedented in space to be able to differentiate the effect of tiny environmental fluctuations from the one produced by a gravitational wave,\u201d he adds.<\/span><\/p>\n Besides the contribution to the LISA instrument, the ICE-CSIC\/IEEC will also lead the development of a Spanish Data Distribution Centre<\/strong> together with the necessary algorithms for the science exploitation. \u201cThe main goal is to provide the Spanish scientific community with the tools required to make the science potential of LISA a reality, so that we can make revolutionary discoveries with impact in Astrophysics, Cosmology and Fundamental Physics,\u201d says <\/span>Carlos F. Sopuerta<\/b>, ICE-CSIC and IEEC researcher and member of ESA\u2019s LISA Science Study Team.<\/span><\/p>\n At the same time, the ICCUB <\/span>Technology Unit<\/span><\/a> will actively participate in the two aforementioned aspects: the instrumentation part, with the construction of a <\/span>radiation sensor<\/b> on board the satellites, as well as the definition of the distributed data processing centre in Barcelona.<\/span><\/p>\n The Department of Electronic Engineering<\/a> of the UPC, in turn, collaborates with ICE-CSIC scientists in the design of new magnetic sensors<\/b> based on MEMS technologies that could be developed for the LISA mission or other future missions. They are also involved in the design of very high-sensitivity temperature sensors<\/b>, which will be part of the monitoring system of the gravitational wave detector of the LISA mission. \u201cThese sensors will be able to detect temperature changes of less than a microkelvin,\u201d says Juan Ramos<\/strong>, researcher at the UPC and the IEEC. The spacecraft follows in the footsteps of its predecessor <\/span>LISA Pathfinder<\/span><\/a>, which demonstrated that it is possible to keep the test masses in freefall to an astonishing level of precision. The Spanish contribution to LISA Pathfinder, launched in 2015, was also led by ICE-CSIC and IEEC within the Gravitational Astronomy research group of the ICE-CSIC.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n Press release prepared in collaboration with the Institute of Space Sciences, the Institute of Cosmos Sciences, the Universitat Polit\u00e8cnica de Catalunya and ESA.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||||false|false” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_divider color=”#406fda” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text admin_label=”Enlla\u00e7os” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cairo|700|||||||” text_text_color=”#406fda” text_font_size=”20px” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Links<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.1em” link_font=”|700|||on|||#1a1140|” link_text_color=”#1a1140″ link_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”20px||||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||||false|false” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_divider color=”#406fda” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_divider][et_pb_text admin_label=”Contactes” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”Cairo|700|||||||” text_text_color=”#406fda” text_font_size=”20px” custom_margin=”||10px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Contacts<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”2_5,3_5″ admin_label=”Row” _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”0px||||false|false” custom_padding=”0px||||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”|||20px|false|false” border_width_left=”1px” border_color_left=”#406fda” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1.1em” link_font=”|700|||on|||#1a1140|” link_text_color=”#1a1140″ link_line_height=”1.4em” header_4_font=”|700|||||||” header_4_text_color=”#1a1140″ custom_margin=”||||false|false” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Barcelona, Spain [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”|||20px|false|false” border_width_left=”1px” border_color_left=”#406fda” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.14.8″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”16px” text_line_height=”1em” link_font=”|700|||on||||” link_text_color=”#1a1140″ header_4_font=”|700|||||||” header_4_text_color=”#1a1140″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Barcelona, Spain<\/p>\n Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC)
Credits:<\/strong> University of Florida \/ Simon Barke (CC BY 4.0).
<\/span><\/p>\nBringing \u2018sound\u2019 to the cosmic movie<\/h2>\n
Spanish contribution to LISA<\/h2>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n\n
IEEC Communication Office<\/h4>\n
E-mail: comunicacio@ieec.cat<\/a><\/p>\nLead Researcher at the IEEC<\/h4>\n
Carlos Sopuerta<\/h4>\n
Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC)
E-mail: sopuerta@ieec.cat<\/a><\/p>\nMiquel Nofrarias<\/h4>\n