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LISA Pathfinder platform stability and drag-free performance
Mendes, L.; Russano, G.; Lloro, I. +76 more
The science operations of the LISA Pathfinder mission have demonstrated the feasibility of sub-femto-g free fall of macroscopic test masses necessary to build a gravitational wave observatory in space such as LISA. While the main focus of interest, i.e., the optical axis or the x -axis, has been extensively studied, it is also of great importance …
LISA Pathfinder micronewton cold gas thrusters: In-flight characterization
Mendes, L.; Russano, G.; Lloro, I. +76 more
The LISA Pathfinder (LPF) mission has demonstrated the ability to limit and measure the fluctuations in acceleration between two free falling test masses down to sub-femto-g levels. One of the key elements to achieve such a level of residual acceleration is the drag free control. In this scheme the spacecraft is used as a shield against any extern…
Temperature stability in the sub-milliHertz band with LISA Pathfinder
Mendes, L.; Russano, G.; Lloro, I. +79 more
LISA Pathfinder (LPF) was a technology pioneering mission designed to test key technologies required for gravitational wave detection in space. In the low frequency regime (milliHertz and below), where space-based gravitational wave observatories will operate, temperature fluctuations play a crucial role since they can couple into the interferomet…
Micrometeoroid Events in LISA Pathfinder
Mendes, L.; Madden, S.; Russano, G. +121 more
The zodiacal dust complex, a population of dust and small particles that pervades the solar system, provides important insight into the formation and dynamics of planets, comets, asteroids, and other bodies. We present a new set of data obtained from direct measurements of momentum transfer to a spacecraft from individual particle impacts. This te…
LISA Pathfinder Performance Confirmed in an Open-Loop Configuration: Results from the Free-Fall Actuation Mode
Mendes, L.; Russano, G.; Nofrarias, M. +75 more
We report on the results of the LISA Pathfinder (LPF) free-fall mode experiment, in which the control force needed to compensate the quasistatic differential force acting on two test masses is applied intermittently as a series of "impulse" forces lasting a few seconds and separated by roughly 350 s periods of true free fall. This represents an al…
Forbush Decreases and <2 Day GCR Flux Non-recurrent Variations Studied with LISA Pathfinder
Mendes, L.; Russano, G.; Lloro, I. +82 more
Non-recurrent short-term variations of the galactic cosmic-ray (GCR) flux above 70 MeV n-1 were observed between 2016 February 18 and 2017 July 3 on board the European Space Agency LISA Pathfinder (LPF) mission orbiting around the Lagrange point L1 at 1.5 × 106 km from Earth. The energy dependence of three Forbush decreases i…
LISA Pathfinder mission extension: A feasibility analysis
Rasotto, Mirco; Renk, Florian; Dei Tos, Diogene A. +1 more
A proposed mission extension for LISA Pathfinder involved redirecting the probe to the Sun-Earth gravitational saddle point. Realistic models for both space and ground segments were used to carry out a number of analyses for trajectory design, orbit determination, and navigation cost. In this work, we present the methods that allow assessing the f…
Novel methods to measure the gravitational constant in space
Mendes, L.; Russano, G.; Nofrarias, M. +76 more
We present two novel methods, tested by LISA Pathfinder, to measure the gravitational constant G for the first time in space. Experiment 1 uses electrostatic suspension forces to measure a change in acceleration of a test mass due to a displaced source mass. Experiment 2 measures a change in relative acceleration between two test masses due to a s…