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    "title": "NASA Reveals LISA Engineering Development Unit Telescope",
    "description": "NASA has revealed the first look at a full-scale prototype for six telescopes that will enable, in the next decade, the space-based detection of gravitational waves — ripples in space-time caused by merging black holes and other cosmic sources.The LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) mission is led by ESA (European Space Agency) in partnership with NASA to detect gravitational waves by using lasers to measure precise distances — down to picometers, or trillionths of a meter — between a trio of spacecraft distributed in a vast configuration larger than the Sun. Each side of the triangular array will measure nearly 1.6 million miles, or 2.5 million kilometers.Twin telescopes aboard each spacecraft will both transmit and receive infrared laser beams to track their companions, and NASA is supplying all six of them to the LISA mission. The prototype, called the Engineering Development Unit Telescope, will provide guidance as engineers and scientists work toward building the flight hardware.In May, the prototype, which was manufactured and assembled by L3Harris Technologies in Rochester, New York, arrived at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The primary mirror is coated in gold to better reflect the infrared lasers and to reduce heat loss from a surface exposed to cold space since the telescope will operate best when close to room temperature. The prototype is made entirely from an amber-colored glass-ceramic called Zerodur, manufactured by Schott in Mainz, Germany. The material is widely used for telescope mirrors and other applications requiring high precision because its shape changes very little over a wide range of temperatures. || ",
    "release_date": "2024-10-22T11:00:00-04:00",
    "update_date": "2024-10-01T13:31:15.350794-04:00",
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        "alt_text": "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 HenryAlt 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.",
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            "description": "NASA has revealed the first look at a full-scale prototype for six telescopes that will enable, in the next decade, the space-based detection of gravitational waves — ripples in space-time caused by merging black holes and other cosmic sources.<br><br>The LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) mission is led by ESA (European Space Agency) in partnership with NASA to detect gravitational waves by using lasers to measure precise distances — down to picometers, or trillionths of a meter — between a trio of spacecraft distributed in a vast configuration larger than the Sun. Each side of the triangular array will measure nearly 1.6 million miles, or 2.5 million kilometers.<br><br>Twin telescopes aboard each spacecraft will both transmit and receive infrared laser beams to track their companions, and NASA is supplying all six of them to the LISA mission. The prototype, called the Engineering Development Unit Telescope, will provide guidance as engineers and scientists work toward building the flight hardware.<br><br>In May, the prototype, which was manufactured and assembled by L3Harris Technologies in Rochester, New York, arrived at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The primary mirror is coated in gold to better reflect the infrared lasers and to reduce heat loss from a surface exposed to cold space since the telescope will operate best when close to room temperature. <br><br>The prototype is made entirely from an amber-colored glass-ceramic called Zerodur, manufactured by Schott in Mainz, Germany. The material is widely used for telescope mirrors and other applications requiring high precision because its shape changes very little over a wide range of temperatures.",
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            "description": "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.<p><p>Credit: NASA/Dennis Henry<p><p>Alt text: Clean room technicians move a prototype LISA telescope. <p><p>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. <p>",
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            "description": "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. <p><p>Credit: NASA/Dennis Henry<p><p>Alt text: A technician inspects a prototype LISA telescope.<p><p>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.",
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            "description": "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. <p><p>Credit: NASA/Dennis Henry<p><p>Alt text: A close view of a prototype LISA telescope.<p><p>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. ",
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            "description": "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. <p><p>Credit: NASA/Dennis Henry<p><p>Alt text: A technician shines a flashlight on a prototype LISA telescope.<p><p>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.”<p>",
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    "related": [
        {
            "id": 14955,
            "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14955/",
            "page_type": "Produced Video",
            "title": "NASA Tests LISA Development Units",
            "description": "A prototype charge management device for the future LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) mission sits on a lab bench at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The device will reduce the buildup of electric charge on the gold-platinum test masses that float freely inside each of the three LISA spacecraft. The University of Florida in Gainesville and Fibertek Inc. in McNair, Virginia, are developing the device. Credit: NASA/Dennis HenryAlt text: An instrument rests on a lab bench.Image description: A silver box with red and black connector caps on one side rests on a white lab bench with a blue mat on top. Three black cables connect to the box and another yellow cable curls around it. || GSFC_20250602_LISA_006584.jpg (8098x5399) [11.3 MB] || ",
            "release_date": "2026-01-27T09:00:00-05:00",
            "update_date": "2025-02-18T10:38:59.752697-05:00",
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                "alt_text": "A prototype laser optical module for LISA rests on a table after testing at NASA Goddard. Xiaozhen Xu, an engineer with Miller Engineering and Research Corp., works in the background. The smaller box to the right is the laser electronics module. \rCredit: NASA/Sophia Roberts\rAlt text: Spacecraft components configured for testing rest on a table.\rImage description: A silver rectangular box rests on a stainless-steel table inside a clean room. It has four rows of 13 indentations in the side facing the camera. Different colored wires and optical fibers connect to the box, and a few are fixed to the side with yellow tape. To right of the silver box is a smaller box with cables in a sleeve of silver-colored material. Behind the table is a large cylindrical silver vacuum chamber with its door slightly ajar. A person in a white clean room suit works in front of the chamber. ",
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            "title": "Astronomers Track Jet Launch, Fluctuating X-Rays from Brink of Active Black Hole",
            "description": "Active galaxy 1ES 1927+654, circled, has exhibited extraordinary changes since 2018, when a major outburst occurred in visible, ultraviolet, and X-ray light. The galaxy harbors a central black hole weighing about 1.4 million solar masses and is located 270 million light-years away.Credit: Pan-STARRSUnannotated versions available.Image description: On a mottled black background, soft circles ranging in color from blue-white to orange represent stars in our own galaxy. At center, to the right of a chain of three bluish stars, lies a softer white circle set within a grayish ellipse whose longest dimension is oriented vertically. This is 1ES 1927+654, circled in green in this image. || 1ES1927_PanSTARRS_1080_circ.jpg (1920x1080) [597.2 KB] || 1ES1927_PanSTARRS_1080.jpg (1920x1080) [591.5 KB] || 1ES1927_PanSTARRS_2160.jpg (3840x2160) [1.7 MB] || 1ES1927_PanSTARRS_1080_circ_searchweb.png (320x180) [87.7 KB] || 1ES1927_PanSTARRS_1080_circ_thm.png [8.9 KB] || ",
            "release_date": "2025-01-13T10:14:00-05:00",
            "update_date": "2025-01-13T14:37:56.030301-05:00",
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                "media_type": "Image",
                "alt_text": "Active galaxy 1ES 1927+654, circled, has exhibited extraordinary changes since 2018, when a major outburst occurred in visible, ultraviolet, and X-ray light. The galaxy harbors a central black hole weighing about 1.4 million solar masses and is located 270 million light-years away.Credit: Pan-STARRSUnannotated versions available.Image description: On a mottled black background, soft circles ranging in color from blue-white to orange represent stars in our own galaxy. At center, to the right of a chain of three bluish stars, lies a softer white circle set within a grayish ellipse whose longest dimension is oriented vertically. This is 1ES 1927+654, circled in green in this image.",
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