1st scientific results Lisa Pathfinder

Tomorrow 7 June 2016,

Following the news conference on 7 June The European Space Agency ESA (which will be livestreamed from ESA ESAC in Madrid, Spain) we will conduct an AmA (Ask me Anything) session on reddit:

The AMA will take place at 14:00 CEST/12:00 GMT/08:00 EDT on reddit.com/r/IAmA (but will appear there only a few hours before it starts).

The following colleagues will answer your questions:

• Paul McNamara, LISA Pathfinder Project Scientist at ESA
• Stefano Vitale, Principal Investigator of the LISA Technology Package from University of Trento and INFN, Italy
• Martin Hewitson, LISA Pathfinder Senior Scientist from Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics and Leibniz Universität Hannover, Germany
• Claudia Mignone, Science Writer, ESA
• Marco Trovatello, Cross-Media Coordinator, ESA

Frequently asked questions regarding reddit AMA’s and how they work can be found here.

After completing a long series of tests on the spacecraft and payload, the ESA mission LISA Pathfinder has started its science mission. Over the next six months it will conduct hundreds of experiments to pave the way for future space-borne gravitational-wave observatories like eLISA. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics (Albert Einstein Institute) and the Institute for Gravitational Physics of Leibniz Universität Hannover are leading mission partners.

LISA Pathfinder (LPF) will place two test masses in a nearly perfect gravitational free-fall, and will control and measure their relative motion with unprecedented accuracy. This is achieved through innovative technologies comprising inertial sensors, an optical metrology system, a drag-free control system and micro-Newton thruster system. The test-masses and their environment will be the quietest place in the solar system.

ALTER TECHNOLOGY was in charge of the engineering, testing, coordinated procurement and final lot acceptance of the electronic components on-board the satellite.