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Disturbance Reduction System Thrusters Stabilize LISA Pathfinder

Dec. 3, 2015
The LISA Pathfinder spacecraft is on its way to space, having successfully launched from Kourou, French Guiana Dec. 3, 2015. On board is the state-of-the-art Disturbance Reduction System (DRS), a thruster technology developed at NASA's JPL.

The LISA Pathfinder spacecraft is on its way to space, having successfully launched from Kourou, French Guiana (Dec. 3 local time/Dec. 2 PST). On board is the state-of-the-art Disturbance Reduction System (DRS), a thruster technology developed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

This cluster of four colloid thrusters is part of the Disturbance Reduction System, developed by NASA/JPL-Caltech, which will help keep ESA's LISA Pathfinder spacecraft extremely stable.

LISA Pathfinder is managed by ESA. The spacecraft was built by Airbus Defence and Space, Ltd. (UK). Airbus Defence and Space, GmbH (Germany), is the payload architect for the LISA Technology Package. The DRS is managed by JPL. The California Institute of Technology manages JPL for NASA.