![](\"http:\/\/www.esa.int\/var\/esa\/storage\/images\/esa_multimedia\/images\/2016\/06\/cold_gas_in_deep_space\/16025850-1-eng-GB\/Cold_gas_in_deep_space_small.jpg\")
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\nThis image shows the LISA Pathfinder launch composite (spacecraft plus propulsion module) at the IABG<\/a> test centre in Ottobrunn, near Munich, Germany, on 31 August 2015, before it was shipped to the launch site.\n<\/p>\n \nIn January 2016, seven weeks after launch, LISA Pathfinder reached its operational orbit around \u2018L1\u2019, the first libration point of the Sun\u2013Earth system, a virtual point in space some 1.5 million km from Earth toward the Sun.\n<\/p>\n \nArrival marked the start of what has now become an extraordinary scientific achievement: demonstrating the technology needed to build a space-based gravitational wave observatory (see LISA Pathfinder exceeds expectations<\/a>).\n<\/p>\n \nAny spacecraft orbiting L1, however, will, over time, tend to drift away. As a result, the teams flying LISA Pathfinder must plan and conduct \u2018station-keeping manoeuvres\u2019 every one to two weeks. These gentle \u2018pushes\u2019 \u2013 using the same cold-gas microthrusters used for the mission\u2019s scientific operations \u2013 deliver very small puffs of gas to keep the spacecraft where it should be.\n<\/p>\n \nThere are three sets of four microthrusters. The image shows one set (with black caps) at centre-right of the spacecraft body. The other set of thrusters with red caps to the left belong to the Disturbance Reduction System, a separate NASA payload.\n<\/p>\n \nHow small is this microthrust?\n<\/p>\n \nThe devices generate forces of 1\u2013100 millionths of a Newton, much, much less than the weight of any housefly. But it\u2019s enough to do the job.\n<\/p>\n \nMore information<\/b>\n<\/p>\n LISA Pathfinder<\/a> \nThis image shows the LISA Pathfinder launch composite (spacecraft plus propulsion module) at the IABG<\/a> test centre in Ottobrunn, near Munich, Germany, on 31 August 2015, before it was shipped to the launch site.\n<\/p>\n \nIn January 2016, seven weeks after launch, LISA Pathfinder reached its operational orbit around ‘L1’, the first libration point of the Sun–Earth system, a virtual point in space some 1.5 million km from Earth toward the Sun.\n<\/p>\n \nArrival marked the start of what has now become an extraordinary scientific achievement: demonstrating the technology needed to build a space-based gravitational wave observatory (see LISA Pathfinder exceeds expectations<\/a>).\n<\/p>\n \nAny spacecraft orbiting L1, however, will, over time, tend to drift away. As a result, the teams flying LISA Pathfinder must plan and conduct ‘station-keeping manoeuvres’ every one to two weeks. These gentle ‘pushes’ – using the same cold-gas microthrusters used for the mission’s scientific operations – deliver very small puffs of gas to keep the spacecraft where it should be.\n<\/p>\n \nThere are three sets of four microthrusters. The image shows one set (with black caps) at centre-right of the spacecraft body. The other set of thrusters with red caps to the left belong to the Disturbance Reduction System, a separate NASA payload.\n<\/p>\n \nHow small is this microthrust?\n<\/p>\n \nThe devices generate forces of 1–100 millionths of a Newton, much, much less than the weight of any housefly. But it’s enough to do the job.\n<\/p>\n \nMore information<\/b>\n<\/p>\n LISA Pathfinder<\/a>
\nESOC<\/a>
Spacecraft Operations<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n
ESOC<\/a>
Spacecraft Operations<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":615444,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-241404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-multimedia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=241404"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":241405,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241404\/revisions\/241405"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/615444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=241404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=241404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spaceweekly.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=241404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}