The next few decades could be exciting for the fields of space research and astronomy as the ESA announces a raft of new spacecraft.
With plans to join China in creating a moon base in the coming decades, the European Space Agency (ESA) is not resting on its laurels when it comes to its next generation of spacecraft.
Its latest reveal came in the form of a trio of laser interferometer space antenna (LISA) spacecraft that will be launched into space to help us better detect gravitational waves being emitted in the universe.
Trio of wave hunters
In 2015, astronomers celebrated the first confirmation of the ripples in spacetime theorized by Albert Einstein over a century ago and since then has been detected a total of three times.
The new LISA mission will be the third large-class mission in ESA’s Science programme and has been given the go-ahead after the great success of the initial trial run, the LISA Pathfinder mission.
As part of its mission, the three spacecraft will spread in a triangular formation, separated by 2.5m km of space, and will follow Earth in its orbit around the sun.
The Pathfinder mission is expected to conclude its mission at the end of this month and in the coming years the ESA will flesh out the mission design and cost with expectations for a launch in 2034.
Meanwhile, another recent announcement from the ESA revealed a sci-fi-like spacecraft that will hopefully provide a solution to the ongoing problem of space debris in Earth’s orbit. Read more...
With plans to join China in creating a moon base in the coming decades, the European Space Agency (ESA) is not resting on its laurels when it comes to its next generation of spacecraft.
Its latest reveal came in the form of a trio of laser interferometer space antenna (LISA) spacecraft that will be launched into space to help us better detect gravitational waves being emitted in the universe.
Trio of wave hunters
In 2015, astronomers celebrated the first confirmation of the ripples in spacetime theorized by Albert Einstein over a century ago and since then has been detected a total of three times.
The new LISA mission will be the third large-class mission in ESA’s Science programme and has been given the go-ahead after the great success of the initial trial run, the LISA Pathfinder mission.
As part of its mission, the three spacecraft will spread in a triangular formation, separated by 2.5m km of space, and will follow Earth in its orbit around the sun.
The Pathfinder mission is expected to conclude its mission at the end of this month and in the coming years the ESA will flesh out the mission design and cost with expectations for a launch in 2034.
Meanwhile, another recent announcement from the ESA revealed a sci-fi-like spacecraft that will hopefully provide a solution to the ongoing problem of space debris in Earth’s orbit. Read more...