D. Texier

TL;DR: The first results of the LISA Pathfinder in-flight experiment demonstrate that two free-falling reference test masses, such as those needed for a space-based gravitational wave observatory like LISA, can be put in free fall with a relative acceleration noise with a square root of the power spectral density.

TL;DR: This performance provides an experimental benchmark demonstrating the ability to realize the low-frequency science potential of the LISA mission, recently selected by the European Space Agency.

TL;DR: The current status of the LISA Pathfinder mission is described, a precursor mission aimed at demonstrating key technologies for future space-based gravitational wave detectors, like LISA, and performance measurements and analysis of these flight components lead to an expected performance of theLISA Pathfinder which is a significant improvement over the mission requirements.

TL;DR: Electrostatic measurements made on board the European Space Agency mission LISA Pathfinder are the first made in a relevant environment for a space-based gravitational wave detector and resolve the stochastic nature of the TM charge buildup due to interplanetary cosmic rays and theTM charge-to-force coupling through stray electric fields in the sensor.

TL;DR: LISA Pathfinder as discussed by the authors is a dedicated technology demonstrator for the joint ESA/NASA Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission, which essentially mimics one arm of the LISA constellation by shrinking the 5 million kilometre armlength down to a few tens of centimetres, giving up the sensitivity to gravitational waves, but keeping the measurement technology.