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Context:

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA) has revealed the first full-scale prototype of six telescopes of The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission.

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) Mission

It is a collaborative effort between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) set to launch in the mid-2030s.

The space mission consists of three spacecraft which are separated by millions of miles to detect gravitational waves.

These spacecraft will fly in a triangular formation behind the Earth and the Sun.

The spacecraft will be placed in a heliocentric orbit at a distance of 50 million km from Earth at a distance of 2.5 million km between each spacecraft.

All three spacecraft will carry two telescopes each.

Purpose

Its main purpose is to search for gravitational wave signatures which emerge from distortions in spacetime caused by massive objects like black holes.

Detection Mechanism

The spacecraft uses Laser Beam Technology to relay laser beams to measure shifts in the positions of the objects due to gravitational waves.

It aims to measure changes which are smaller than the diameter of a helium nucleus over a distance of a million miles.

LISA Pathfinder Mission

It is nothing but a proof-of-concept mission to test technologies developed for LISA.

It was launched on December 3, 2015, and it reduced noise levels by a factor of 100, which is higher than the target requirements.

Gravitational Waves

They are the disturbances in space and time caused by massive accelerating objects such as the black hole mergers.

Significance of Gravitational Waves

They offer insights into the astrophysical phenomena which are not visible to traditional astronomy, which are mostly light waves based.

It also enables the exploration of black holes, the Big Bang, and other unknown cosmic objects such as neutron stars.

They are the source of the origin of our universe and detecting them can be used to understand the evolution, origin and disturbances in galaxies.

Important articles for reference

Gravitational Waves

LIGO

Sources:

INDIA TODAY

LISA.NASA.GOV

PRACTICE QUESTION

Q.Consider the following statements about the The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) Mission:

It is a collaborative mission between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA).
The space mission consists of two spacecraft.
The spacecraft uses the Laser Beam Technology to relay laser beams to measure shifts in the positions of the objects due to gravitational waves.

How many of the above statements is/are correct?

A.Only one

B.Only two

C. All Three

D.None

Answer: B

Explanation:

Statement 1 is correct:

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (Lisa) mission is a collaborative effort between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) set to launch in the mid-2030s.

Statement 2 is incorrect:

The space mission consists of three spacecrafts which are separated by millions of miles to detect gravitational waves.

These spacecraft will fly in a triangular formation behind the Earth and the Sun.

The spacecraft will be placed in a heliocentric orbit at a distance of 50 million km from Earth at a distance of 2.5 million km between each spacecraft.

All three spacecraft will carry two telescopes each.

Statement 3 is correct:

The spacecraft uses the Laser Beam Technology to relay laser beams to measure shifts in the positions of the objects due to gravitational waves.