LISA mission study overview

The European Space Agency placed in mid-1999 a contract with the Dornier Satellitensysteme GmbH (now Astrium GmbH) for a study of the LISA mission and spacecraft design. The study was to start with a review of the concept developed by the LISA scientific study team as documented in their 1998 study report. This baseline was then modified where appropriate and further developed to an amended mission and spacecraft design. Modifications concerned the mechanical and thermal configuration of both the propulsion and the science modules and their interfaces to the instrument and the launcher. Some optical parameters and major components of the instrument were analysed and modified where required to improve the measurement performance. A variety of system simulations and analyses have been run to demonstrate the mechanical and thermal integrity and stability, and to verify the optical and control performance. Finally, the system performance has been synthesized demonstrating that the mission's scientific objectives are achievable.