NASA unveils first look of LISA telescopes that will help unravel mysteries of universe, gravity, black holes: Explained | Mint

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) revealed on Tuesday the first look of the prototype for six telescopes that will help LISA’s three spacecraft detect gravitational waves in space. The prototype is called the Engineering Development Unit Telescope.

LISA to unravel mysteries of universe and gravity

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission, led by the European Space Agency (ESA) in partnership with NASA, aims to detect and study gravitational waves in space.

LISA will be the “first gravitational wave detector in space” and will “explore the fundamental nature of gravity and black holes“. It will also probe the rate of expansion of the Universe. It is planned to be launched around 2035.

Gravitational waves are generated by many different type of events in the universe – “from interacting compact stars to merging supermassive black holes at the cores of galaxies”.

According to the European Space Agency, “LISA will be the first space-based observatory dedicated to studying gravitational waves: ripples in the fabric of space-time emitted during the most powerful events in the Universe, such as pairs of black holes coming together and merging.”

“LISA will be the first mission to probe the history of the Universe using these waves,” the ESA said. The mission will study the nature of gravity by exploring the waves that originate from some of the most massive and extreme phenomena in the Universe.

WATCH: Simulation of Merger of Two Black Holes and Gravitational Radiation

How will LISA detect ripples in spacetime? The role of 3 spacecraft and 6 telescopes

The LISA mission will comprise three spacecraft. These three spacecraft will fly in a triangular formation behind the Earth as our planet orbits the Sun.

The spacecraft will sit in a heliocentric orbit, about 50 million km from Earth, with a distance of around 2.5 million km between each spacecraft.

“LISA will detect ripples in spacetime through subtle changes in the distances between free-floating cubes nestled within each spacecraft. Changes in the relative distances between these golden cubes will be tracked with extreme accuracy using laser interferometry,” the ESA explained.

Meanwhile, NASA explained the role of six telescopes. All three spacecraft will have two telescopes each. The LISA mission will use lasers to detect gravitational waves.

Ryan DeRosa, a researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, said, “Twin telescopes aboard each spacecraft will both transmit and receive infrared laser beams to track their companions, and NASA is supplying all six of them to the LISA mission.”

About Engineering Development Unit Telescope

The Engineering Development Unit Telescope was manufactured and assembled by L3Harris Technologies in Rochester, New York.

The entire telescope is made from an amber-colored glass-ceramic that resists changes in shape over a wide temperature range, and the mirror’s surface is coated in gold.

The primary mirror is coated in gold to better reflect the infrared lasers and to reduce heat loss from a surface exposed to cold space since the telescope will operate best when close to room temperature.

“The prototype is made entirely from an amber-colored glass-ceramic called Zerodur, manufactured by Schott in Mainz, Germany. The material is widely used for telescope mirrors and other applications requiring high precision because its shape changes very little over a wide range of temperatures,” NASA explained.

Why to study Gravitational Waves?

According to NASA, there are many astrophysical phenomena that are either very dim or completely invisible in any form of light that astronomy has relied on for 400 years.

“Gravitational waves are a powerful new probe of the Universe that uses gravity instead of light to take measure of dynamical astrophysical phenomena,” the US space agency said.

It further explained that studying gravitational waves gives enormous potential for discovering the parts of the universe that are invisible by other means, such as black holes, the Big Bang, and other, as yet unknown, objects.

“LISA will complement our knowledge about the beginning, evolution and structure of our universe,” NASA said.