The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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Artist’s impression of LISA Pathfinder being propelled into low-Earth orbit by the upper stage of the Vega rocket.
The Vega rocket, which is designed to take small payloads into low-Earth orbit, will place LISA Pathfinder into an elliptical orbit. Then, the spacecraft will continue on its own, gradually raising the highest point of the initial orbit using its separable propulsion module.
Eventually, LISA Pathfinder will cruise towards its final orbiting location, orbiting the first Sun–Earth Lagrangian point, L1, a vantage point in space about 1.5 million km from Earth towards the Sun. There, it will test key technologies for space-based observation of gravitational waves – ripples in the fabric of spacetime that are predicted by Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity.
Full animated sequence: LISA Pathfinder launch animation