Gravitational wave detector LISA officially adopted by ESA as mission

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) opens up a new part of the gravitational wave spectrum as the first space-based detector. It is now officially adopted by the European Space Agency (ESA) as one of its large class missions. Launch is scheduled for the mid-2030s. The Netherlands plays a large role in the development of hardware and software. LISA consists of three spacecraft orbiting the Sun, trailing behind Earth. By continuously measuring their mutual distances using laser beams, they detect gravitational waves from various sources the Universe. Those are ripples in the fabric of space created by exotic cosmic events-such as colliding black holes or the Big Bang-comparable to an oil tanker creating waves in the ocean.