{"id":15910,"date":"2015-11-24T21:34:05","date_gmt":"2015-11-24T13:34:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/photos-experimental-lisa-pathfinder-probe-processed-for-launch\/"},"modified":"2015-11-24T21:34:05","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T13:34:05","slug":"photos-experimental-lisa-pathfinder-probe-processed-for-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/photos-experimental-lisa-pathfinder-probe-processed-for-launch\/","title":{"rendered":"Photos: Experimental LISA Pathfinder probe processed for launch"},"content":{"rendered":"

The European Space Agency\u2019s LISA Pathfinder spacecraft, destined to test the concept of gravitational wave detection a million miles from Earth, is nearly ready for launch Dec. 2.<\/p>\n

The hexagonal spacecraft, plus a disposable propulsion module to get it to an observation post at the L1 Lagrange point, arrived at Europe\u2019s spaceport in French Guiana in October. Technicians fueled the main engine\u2019s propellant tanks, completed final checks on the spacecraft, then encapsulated the probe inside the payload fairing of its Vega rocket.<\/p>\n

Ground crews enclosed LISA Pathfinder inside the two-half payload fairing Nov. 16, then transferred the spacecraft to the Vega launch pad last week, and it was attached atop the four-stage rocket Nov. 19.<\/p>\n

Liftoff is scheduled for Dec. 2 at 0415 GMT (11:15 p.m. EST on Dec. 1) to begin a month-and-a-half cruise to the L1 Lagrange point, where it will arrive in January in a looping halo-like orbit around the gravitationally-stable location 1.5 million kilometers (930,000 miles) toward the sun from Earth.<\/p>\n

LISA Pathfinder\u2019s mission is to test new technologies, such as laser ranging systems, free-floating gold-platinum test cubes, and tiny micro-thrusters, required for a more ambitious future project to attempt detection of gravitational waves rippling across the cosmos as predicted by Einstein\u2019s general theory of relativity.<\/p>\n

These images show the journey of LISA Pathfinder since its arrival at the Guiana Space Center, including final preparation of the separation device between its science and propulsion modules, fueling activities, encapsulation and attachment to the Vega booster.<\/p>\n

\"Photo
Photo credit: ESA\/CNES\/Arianespace \u2013 Optique Video du CSG \u2013 G. Barbaste<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Photo
Photo credit: ESA\/CNES\/Arianespace \u2013 Optique Video du CSG \u2013 G. Barbaste<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Photo
Photo credit: ESA\/CNES\/Arianespace \u2013 Optique Video du CSG \u2013 G. Barbaste<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Photo
Photo credit: ESA\/CNES\/Arianespace \u2013 Optique Video du CSG \u2013 JM Guillon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Photo
Photo credit: ESA\/CNES\/Arianespace \u2013 Optique Video du CSG \u2013 P. Baudon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Photo
Photo credit: ESA\/CNES\/Arianespace \u2013 Optique Video du CSG \u2013 P. Baudon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Photo
Photo credit: ESA\/CNES\/Arianespace \u2013 Optique Video du CSG \u2013 P. Baudon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Photo
Photo credit: ESA-Manuel Pedoussaut, 2015<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Photo
Photo credit: ESA-Manuel Pedoussaut, 2015<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Photo
Photo credit: ESA-Manuel Pedoussaut, 2015<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Photo
Photo credit: ESA-Manuel Pedoussaut, 2015<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Photo
Photo credit: ESA-Manuel Pedoussaut, 2015<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Photo
Photo credit: ESA\/CNES\/Arianespace \u2013 Optique Video du CSG \u2013 S. Martin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Photo
Photo credit: ESA\/CNES\/Arianespace \u2013 Optique Video du CSG \u2013 S. Martin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Photo
Photo credit: ESA\u2013Manuel Pedoussaut, 2015<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The European Space Agency\u2019s LISA Pathfinder spacecraft, destined to test the concept of gravitational wave detection a million miles from Earth, is nearly ready for launch Dec. 2. The hexagonal spacecraft, plus a disposable propulsion module to get it to an observation post at the L1 Lagrange point, arrived at Europe\u2019s spaceport in French Guiana […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1657,498,831,1978,1773,3243,1311,3244],"class_list":["post-15910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-airbus-defense-and-space","tag-arianespace","tag-european-space-agency","tag-gravitational-waves","tag-guiana-space-center","tag-lisa-pathfinder","tag-vega","tag-vv06"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15910"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15910\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}