European Space Agency approves ‘Lisa’ mission

Over 120 research institutions are involved in Lisa, including ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich Keystone / Christophe Petit Tesson

The “Lisa” space mission to research gravitational waves in space, which has Swiss involvement, has officially been given the green light.

The European Space Agency (ESA) gave the mission the go-ahead for implementation, it announced on Thursday.

“It’s a huge project,” Domenico Giardini from the federal technology institute ETH Zurich, who is involved in the mission, told the Swiss News Agency Keystone-SDA. “Three generations of researchers and engineers will be involved.”

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The aim of the Lisa mission is to measure gravitational waves in space free of interference. Three satellites will be used to set up a measuring system around 50 million kilometres from Earth. Researchers hope to gain insights into dark matter. The satellites are scheduled to be launched in 2035.

Over 120 research institutions in the US and various European countries are involved in Lisa. These include ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich.

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