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NTE has been recently awarded a contract by the Institute for Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC) in the framework of the Spanish Space programme for the procurement of the Diagnostic and Data Management System (DDS) of the LISA Technology Package (LTP) for the LISA Pathfinder mission.
The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is an ESA/NASA mission that will consist of three spacecraft flying 5 million kilometres apart in an equilateral triangle formation in orbits around the Sun. Their goal is to detect gravitational waves, already predicted in Einstein's theory of general relativity, and thus to improve our knowledge of the Universe.
LISA Pathfinder will be the precursor mission that will test in flight the concept of the gravitational wave detection. It comprises two instruments: the mentioned LTP and the Disturbance Reduction System (DRS). Both will test the key technology of drag-free control by means of proof masses.
NTE is in charge of the development, fabrication, verification, delivery and post-delivery support related to the engineering and flight models of the DDS for LTP. The DDS is aiming at the control of the interferometer stability and at the acquisition of the metrology science data and will be one of the key systems of the LISA Pathfinder mission which is planned for launch in 2009. |
