On December 3, 2015, the European Space Agency (ESA) successfully launched the LISA Pathfinder from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Noliac’s SELEX ES with piezo bender rings will make a vital contribution to the mission.
Jacopo Bussotti, product assurance manager at Selex EX explains: SELEX ES has developed the micro-thruster (MT) cold gas propulsion system. Inside one of the most important MTs, the thruster valves are equipped with the Noliac ceramic multilayer bender rings that successfully passed all the qualifications and acceptance test campaigns; the combination of a high mechanical precision of the thruster Valve plunger and a micrometric movements of the piezo ring bender, allow a thrust control in the range of 10-6 N, Jacopo Bussotti ends.
The launch of the LISA Pathfinder is the first step of a series of missions. LISA Pathfinder will test the technology needed to develop future space-borne gravitational wave detectors. Gravitational waves can be used to observe large-scale events billions of light-years away. The technology tested in LISA Pathfinder will lead to new great experiments in gravity as researchers look for ways to extend Einstein’s theory of relativity to understand Big Bang and the internal workings of black holes.
