ERZIA congratulates Stefano Vitale, this year’s recipient of the Tycho Brahe Medal. The medal recognizes his leadership of the laser interferometer space antenna (LISA) Pathfinder mission. The award, bestowed by The European Astronomical Society, acknowledges the mission’s extraordinary success proving the technology required for the gravitational wave observatory planned to be launched in 2034.

Professor Vitale’s recognition is particularly gratifying to the ERZIA team, whose RF power amplifiers met and ultimately exceeded the mission’s demanding requirements. “ERZIA’s RF amplifiers were on the path that feeds the Acousto Optic Modulator, making their performance critical to the success of the mission,” said Monica Delgado, technical project manager. “The special requirements for space-based instruments are enormously challenging. The fact that our efforts not only met but exceeded requirements was immensely gratifying.”

“On behalf of our whole team, I offer congratulations to Professor Vitale,” stated David Diez, managing director. “The LISA Pathfinder was a new breed of spacecraft that called for a profound change of mindset. It was ERZIA’s first contract to design spaceflight hardware. In a way, it was a pathfinder for us as well. Since then, we have been continuously participating in space programs, delivering flight high power amplifiers which are now operating around the Earth and Mars and even on the Moon’s surface.”