NASA provides laser for LISA mission

[notFritzArgelander]

https://phys.org/news/2021-09-nasa-lase ... ssion.html

[turboscrew]

Ripples in the fabric of space-time as small as a picometer—50 times smaller than a hydrogen atom—will produce a detectable change in the distances between the spacecraft.

[notFritzArgelander]

Ripples in the fabric of space-time as small as a picometer—50 times smaller than a hydrogen atom—will produce a detectable change in the distances between the spacecraft.

Yep, high precision is required.....

[bladekeeper]

"These gravitational wave fluctuations are so small they would be obscured by external forces such as dust impacts and the radiation pressure of sunlight on the spacecraft. To mitigate this, the drag-free control concept—demonstrated on the LISA Pathfinder mission in 2015—uses free-floating test masses sheltered inside each spacecraft as reference points for the measurement."

That's just nuts. And here I was earlier today cussing because I couldn't get my silly printer to wirelessly connect to my PC...

[GCoyote]

"These gravitational wave fluctuations are so small they would be obscured by external forces such as dust impacts and the radiation pressure of sunlight on the spacecraft. To mitigate this, the drag-free control concept—demonstrated on the LISA Pathfinder mission in 2015—uses free-floating test masses sheltered inside each spacecraft as reference points for the measurement."

That's just nuts. And here I was earlier today cussing because I couldn't get my silly printer to wirelessly connect to my PC...