LISA
Laser Interferometer Space Antenna
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- Approved: 2017,
- Started: 2030,
- Still Running
The primary objective of the LISA mission is to detect and study in detail gravitational wave signals from sources involving massive black holes (MBH's). This includes both transient signals from the terminal stages of binary coalescences, which we will call bursts, and binary signals which are continuous over the observation period. The scientific information obtainable from such sources, both for astrophysics and for testing current predictions of gravitational theory, is enormous. The main issues are whether the bursts occur frequently enough so that a number of them can be observed over the mission lifetime, and whether the stronger continuous signals can be observed over the instrumental and other noise limitations. Most of the burst signals would be observable with high signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) out to large red shifts. Other important objectives also exist. LISA will certainly observe distinguishable signals from thousands of binary systems containing compact stars, and be able to determine the number and distribution of such binaries in our galaxy. The directions to the sources can be determined from the amplitude and phase changes of the signals during the year. At frequencies below about 3 mHz the number of galactic binaries will be large enough to interfere with the observation of some important extragalactic sources. Signals from some known binary systems are also likely to be seen. In addition, a useful search for a continuous spectrum of gravitational radiation generated at early times would be carried out. The expected LISA sensitivity and the signal levels of several expected sources are indicated in the figure below.
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