NASA Reveals LISA Engineering Development Unit Telescope

On May 20, the full-scale Engineering Development Unit Telescope for the LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) mission, still in its shipping frame, was moved within a clean room at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Credit: NASA/Dennis Henry

Alt text: Clean room technicians move a prototype LISA telescope.

Image description: In a brightly lit clean room with pale green walls, two technicians wearing white coveralls, hoods, masks, and blue gloves manipulate a silvery wheeled platform. At the center of the platform is a black frame holding an amber-colored prototype telescope whose gold-colored mirror is near the center of the image. Text at the bottom of the platform reads “FORKLIFT” on the left and right. Numerous additional technicians, also wearing white coveralls, populate the background.

The prototype LISA telescope undergoes post-delivery inspection in a darkened NASA Goddard clean room on May 20. The entire telescope is made from an amber-colored glass-ceramic that resists changes in shape over a wide temperature range, and the mirror’s surface is coated in gold.

Credit: NASA/Dennis Henry

Alt text: A technician inspects a prototype LISA telescope.

Image description: In a darkened clean room, a technician clad in white coveralls, hood, mask, and blue gloves inspects a prototype telescope set within a black frame. At center, the telescope’s translucent, tan-colored structure glows as the technician shines a flashlight behind it. Other suited people partially appear in the background at right, while at top and left ceiling lights from areas beyond the clean room can be seen through windows.

A closer view of the full-scale prototype LISA telescope in a clean room at NASA Goddard. The telescope's translucent, amber-colored material glows as an engineer behind it inspects the structure with a flashlight. A gold-coated mirror, near center, reflects a magnified image of part of the telescope.

Credit: NASA/Dennis Henry

Alt text: A close view of a prototype LISA telescope.

Image description: In a darkened clean room, a technician clad in white coveralls, who is at top and mostly hidden behind the hardware, shines a flashlight on a prototype telescope. Set on a black hexagon and supported by a black frame, the telescope’s translucent, tan-colored structure glows from the flashlight. The telescope and its supporting hardware rest on a larger silvery surface, part of a structure used to transport it. Near center, a circular golden mirror reflects a magnified image of part of the telescope.

On May 20, technicians inspect the prototype LISA telescope in a darkened clean room at NASA Goddard. Illuminated by a flashlight, the telescope’s structure glows. The prototype is made from a translucent, amber-colored, glass-ceramic material called Zerodur, which is often used in high-precision applications because it resists changes in shape over a wide temperature range. The mirror, near center and coated in gold, reflects a magnified image of part of the telescope.

Credit: NASA/Dennis Henry

Alt text: A technician shines a flashlight on a prototype LISA telescope.

Image description: In a darkened clean room, a technician clad in a white coveralls, a hood, a mask, and blue gloves, located at left, uses a flashlight to inspect a prototype telescope set within a black frame. The frame rests on a large silvery surface, which is part of a structure used for transporting it. At center, the telescope’s translucent, tan-colored structure glows from the flashlight beam. At upper right, the legs and one blue-gloved hand of other coverall-wearing technicians are visible. Labels visible on the silvery surface can be seen at bottom left and right. Printed in black and covered by yellow tape, they read “CLAMP TORQUE 48 ft/lbs +/– 1 ft/lb.”