Alcatel Alenia Space will develop on-board and ground segment equipment for the Laser Interferometry Space Antenna (LISA) Pathfinder mission, the company announced Oct. 25. The LISA Pathfinder will provide in-orbit testing and validation for concepts and technologies that will be used on the LISA mission being planned by the European Space Agency and NASA.

The mission is intended to detect and measure interplanetary gravitational waves and will consist of test masses aboard three spacecraft about 5 million kilometers apart in a triangle formation. The test masses will act as an interferometer and measure the distortion of space causes by passing gravitational waves from massive black holes and galactic binaries. The Pathfinder mission, scheduled to be launched in 2009, will use test masses placed 30 centimeters apart on a single spacecraft.

Alcatel Alenia Space will provide the X-band transponder that will act as the interface between the satellite and the ground segment and the power-specific checkout equipment hardware and software that will simulate the solar panels and batteries, and test the spacecraft’s power subsystem. Units will be delivered to EADS Space, the satellite prime contractor, between 2007 and end of 2008.

Alcatel Alenia Space also will develop equipment to measure gravitational waves, such as test masses, the caging mechanism to guarantee the safe blocking of the test masses during launch as well as the electric propulsion diagnostic package dedicated to monitoring and characterizing the environment induced by the electric propulsion on board the spacecraft.