The probe Lisa Pathfinder is traveling in space – ladigetto.it

Produced in cooperation with the University of Trento opens the way for the construction of a true space observatory of gravitational waves

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He kicked off regularly at 5am Italian time (midnight in Kourou) on December 3 by the European launch base in French Guyana, the Lisa Pathfinder mission taken into space by the carrier.
The probe, built by ESA with the fundamental contribution of ASI, in collaboration with the National Institute of Nuclear Physics and the University of Trento, has a very precise and ambitious task: open the way for the construction of a true space observatory of gravitational waves that should be fully completed by 2034 with the launch of mission-Lisa.
The Vega rocket took off at 5.04 (Italian time).
About seven minutes later, after the separation of the first three stages, the first lighting of the last component of Vega drove LISA Pathfinder in low orbit, followed by another power hour and 40 minutes Later that he has positioned the probe Lisa Pathfinder to the orbit flight transient.
The probe is separated from the last module of the Vega launcher at 6:49 Italian time and two minutes later the basis for control of ESA in Darmstadt, Germany made contact.
The temporary parking orbit is slightly elliptical and its closest point to Earth at a distance of 200 km and the farthest to 1540 km.
Over the next ten weeks, the spacecraft will use its thrusters to reach the final position to Feb. 14 at a distance from Earth of about 1.5 million kilometers in orbit around the first Lagrange point, gravitational equilibrium between the Sun and Earth.

“We are all very excited.” So the President of the Italian Space, Roberto Battiston immediately after the declared successful launch of the mission.
“It’s the time it is afloat Italy its overall supply chain, – he adds. – Pitcher, payload, science, technology, management capacity.
“In a European Space Agency’s role in Italian but with a very extraordinary, demonstrating that our country in this area has a recognized tradition that continues to confirm launch after launch, mission after mission, with the ‘ aim to confirm our country among the great even in space. “

” At 100 years since the publication of the theory of general relativity – said Fernando Ferroni, president of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics – the hunt for gravitational waves intensifies with increasingly sophisticated tools.
“Lisa Pathfinder is a masterpiece of technology with an extraordinary Italian contribution, which will open the way for a new chapter in this fascinating story, in which we might be able to listen to and study cosmic catastrophic events until now unattainable.”

The mission was made an important contribution to Italian, both scientific and technological.
“Listen to the Universe through gravitational waves promises a profound revolution in astrophysics, astronomy and cosmology as those due to the invention of the telescope or radio telescope, – says the principal investigator Stefano Vitale, Professor of Experimental Physics at the University Trento and member of the Trento Institute for Fundamental Physics and Applications (TIFPA) of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN). – Gravitational waves are the ideal messenger for observing the Universe. Undisturbed through any form of matter or energy, are emitted by all bodies, visible or dark, they record the motion and bring the information down to us from the depths of the remote Universe.
“We can compare them to the Sound coming from sources hidden behind other objects, such as sounds of animals hidden in a forest, and allow us to locate, recognize, assess the distance and follow the movement.
“they reach from sources that do not emit light, as the sounds of the night.”

The inertial sensors, the high precision instruments that enclose the proof masses, and which are at the heart of ‘LTP, were made by the Italian Space with the industrial prime contractor CGS (General Company for Space) on scientific project of researchers at the University of Trento and the National Institute of Nuclear Physics.
“Trent is the place where he made a happy combination of skills and vision, which has proven the quality of Italian research and its ability to make a decisive contribution also in an international project like LISA Pathfinder – said Paolo Collini, rector of the University of Trento. – University of Trento has played a leading role with the ASI to prepare the mission and in equipping the satellite high technology.
“With this model a reality small device like ours could be the star of a long-term project and planetary dimension. Great things can be rooted in small companies. “

LISA Pathfinder is the precursor technological space gravitational wave observatory planned by ESA as the third largest mission in its scientific program Cosmic Vision.
In particular, the probe intended to test the concept of detection of gravitational waves from space showing that it is possible to control and measure with a very high precision the movement of two proof masses (alloy of gold and platinum) in a near-perfect gravitational free-fall, which will be monitored by a complex laser system.

The LISA Technology Package (LTP), the name of the only instrument on board of LISA Pathfinder which will have the difficult task to demonstrate the almost perfect free fall of two cubes gold-platinum, by measuring, with a laser, displacement relative to one another. with sufficient precision to record, in the fabric of space, ripples as those expected from the clash between the heavenly bodies of huge mass.
Events, scientists calculate, should lead in the cubes of LISA Pathfinder movement in the order of nanometers more or less the average size of an atom.

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