Rosetta
Rosetta was a space probe built by the ESA. Along with Philae, its lander module, Rosetta performed a detailed study of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (67P).
Current status: Mission ended (controlled impact on the comet’s Ma’at Region) 29.09.16
³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ’s involvement: ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ is part or the Rosetta Plasma Consortium (RPC), a package of five instruments capable of complementary measurements of the plasma environment around the comet. ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ's Principal Investigator on Rosetta is Chris Carr.
LISA Pathfinder
LISA Pathfinder is a European Space Agency (ESA) mission which launched in 2015. LISA is a gravitational wave observatory in space. On-board LISA Pathfinder, 2-kg masses are kept in perfect free-fall below 10-13 g. It will open a new astronomical window on the universe, and test Einstein’s theory of General Relativity with unprecedented accuracy.
Current status: Currently in Earth L1
³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ’s involvement: An ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ team, led by Professor Timothy Sumner, has developed and manufactured hardware to maintain the electrical charge of the masses at zero using photoelectron emission under UV illumination. ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ scientists will also be part of the operations team carrying out six months of experiments to assess the performance of the spacecraft in-orbit.