P. Sarra

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: In this article, the current design of the European gravitational sensor (GS) for the LISA Technology Package (LTP) is described, on board the mission SMART-2, which aims to demonstrate geodetic motion within one order of magnitude of the anticipated LISA performance.

TL;DR: The LISA Technology Package (LTP) as discussed by the authors is a transverse-traceless coordinate frame experiment that will fly onboard the LISA Pathfinder mission of the European Space Agency in 2008.

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: The LISA technology package (LTP) is a dedicated ESA flight experiment for testing the drag-free control technology that must ensure purity of free fall in the LISA mission as mentioned in this paper.