Abstract. The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission, a space-based gravitational wave detector, uses laser metrology to measure distance fluctuations between proof masses aboard three sciencecraft. The total acceleration disturbance to each proof mass is required to be below 3 × 10⁻¹⁵ m s⁻² Hz^−1/2 at 0.1 mHz. Self-gravity noise due to sciencecraft distortion and motion is expected to be a significant contributor to the acceleration noise budget. To minimize these effects, the gravitational field at each proof mass must be kept as small, flat and constant as possible. It is estimated that the static (non-fluctuating) self-gravity acceleration must be kept below 5 × 10⁻¹⁰ m s⁻² with a gradient below 3 × 10⁻⁸ s⁻² in order to meet the required noise levels. Most likely it will not be possible to directly verify that the LISA sciencecraft meets these requirements by measurements; they must be verified by models. The LISA integrated modelling team developed a new self-gravity tool that calculates the gravitational forces and moments on the proof masses to aid in the design and verification of the LISA sciencecraft. We present here an overview of the tool and the latest self-gravity results calculated using the current baseline design of LISA.

PACS numbers: 04.80.Nn, 02.70.Dh

Print publication: Issue 10 (21 May 2005)
Received 1 November 2004, in final form 25 January 2005
Published 28 April 2005