Alcatel Alenia Space will develop and deliver on-board and ground segment equipment for the LISA Pathfinder program. The program will provide in-orbit testing and validation for the new concepts and technologies that will be used on ESA/NASA's Laser Interferometry Space Antenna (LISA) mission, which aims to detect and measure interplanetary gravitational waves.
The LISA mission, the world's first space-based gravity wave detector, will consist of test masses contained in three spacecrafts flying approximately five million kilometers apart in an equilateral triangle formation. They will act as an interferometer and will measure the distortion of space caused by passing gravitational waves coming from massive black holes and galactic binaries.
Alcatel Alenia Space will provide the X-band transponder, one of the key spacecraft units that will act as the unique interface between the satellite and the ground segment. It receives commands from the ground segment and transmits spacecraft telemetries, instrument information and ranging signals. The company will also provide the Power Specific Check-Out Equipment hardware and software, simulating the solar panels and the batteries, and is dedicated to test the spacecraft's power sub-system during assembly, integration and validation phases. Units will be delivered to EADS SPACE, the satellite prime contractor, between 2007 and the end of 2008 and LISA Pathfinder will be launched in 2009.
 | |
| |
 | |
|