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One of the most exciting new developments in physics is the imminent advent of gravitational wave astronomy - viewing the cosmos not with light and its electromagnetic bretheren, but rather with ripples of gravity, or gravitational waves. Viewed in this way, the universe will reveal details that cannot be observed by any other means, and many of its most enigmatic constituents, such as black holes, will be among the most visible objects in the sky.
The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is a proposed joint NASA/ESA mission to observe gravitational waves from a space-based platform. The mission consists of three identical spacecraft located in an equilateral triangle with sides of 5x10^6 km in a heliocentric orbit. The spacecraft carry the optical components of a Michelson-Morley interferometer, which will measure the passing of gravitational waves of astrophysical origin in the 10-1 to 10-4 Hz band. Launch is currently planned for 2011, with data gathering to begin in 2012. NASA's recognition of the technological and scientific opportunities presented by the LISA mission is exemplified by its selection of the Disturbance Reduction System technology as the Space Technology 7 project for the New Millennium Program.
To reap the full benefit of the scientific promise LISA embodies, input is required from three different areas of research: astrophysics, source modeling, and data analysis. Data analysts rely on source modelers and astrophysicists to predict features of gravitational wave signals that will allow them to be extracted from instrumental noise. Source modelers, in turn, rely on astrophysicists and data analysts to guide them in modeling the sources that are most likely to be observed. Finally, astrophysicists use source modeling and signals extracted by data analysts (or the lack of such signals) to refine their astrophysical theories. The proposed CGWA will represent research expertise in all three of these theoretical disciplines, with a focus on LISA research.
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