Physics of the Cosmos News

9 September 2022

LISA Preparatory Science in ROSES-22

The LISA Preparatory Science (LPS) program has been created to provide support for U.S. investigators to conduct activities that contribute to furthering the eventual science yield of the European Space Agency-led Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) gravitational-wave observatory. This program is not intended as a vehicle for funding specific U.S. contributions to the LISA instrument or science ground segment, or to develop concepts for other missions outside of LISA. Proposals to the LPS program may request support to:

• Perform high-fidelity simulations of the expected waveforms for LISA sources and assessing their impact on LISA's science return;
• Develop data analysis and statistical techniques useful for the extraction of scientific measurements from LISA data (e.g., parameter estimators, etc.);
• Refine and expand on LISA's capabilities to conduct specific astrophysical investigations and evaluate LISA’s potential contributions in the context of the broader astrophysical landscape;
• Conduct astrophysics investigations that demonstrably prepare for the analysis and interpretation of the LISA data.

The LISA Preparatory Science (LPS) program is included in the current NASA ROSES-22 call. Proposals are due by 23 March 2023 with mandatory Notice of Intent (NoI) due 16 December 2022. For more details, please refer to the program’s NSPIRES webpage. Please direct questions about LPS to Ira Thorpe, the NASA Study Scientist for LISA, at james.i.thorpe@nasa.gov or to Thomas Hams, the NASA HQ Program Scientist responsible for LPS, at thomas.hams-1@nasa.gov.