NASA has awarded the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) Charge Management Device (CMD) contract to the University of Florida, Gainesville.
The total value of this cost-no-fee contract is $12,582,356.00. The period of performance is from Jan 1, 2021 through July 31, 2025. The work under this contract will be performed at the University of Florida.
Under this contract the contractor will design, fabricate, integrate, test, verify and deliver the breadboard, the Engineering Development Unit, and Engineering Test Unit CMD and the Fiber Optic Harness. The CMD is part of LISA, a state-of-the-art space-based gravitational wave telescope to address key questions in astrophysics and is a part of the (ESA) European Space Agency’s Cosmic Visions Program.
LISA is an international project led by ESA as a space-borne gravitational wave observatory. NASA has partnered with ESA on this space mission to provide key enabling technologies. LISA is planned to consist of three spacecraft that are separated by 1.5 million miles (2.5 million kilometers) in an Earth-trailing orbit. These three spacecraft relay laser beams back and forth between different spacecraft and the signals are combined to search for gravitational wave signatures that come from distortions of space-time. The study of the universe through gravitational waves will yield a revolutionary perspective on the universe, which has been intensely studied using electromagnetic waves in many wavelength bands.
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