The Lunar Gravitational-wave Antenna payload will be composed of an array of seismic stations in a permanently shadowed crater. Highly sensitive cryogenic inertial sensors will be deployed at seismic stations to detect the difference between the elastic response of the Moon and the motion of the suspended inertial sensor proof mass induced by gravitational waves. This talk presents the first...
The main goal of the LGWA mission is to observe and monitor gravitational-wave (GW) signals. One of the key technologies employed for this purpose is the inverted pendulum suspension, whose low resonance frequency provides the mechanical sensitivity needed to detect the extremely faint surface displacements induced by GWs. However, because this suspension is extremely soft, the sensor becomes...
The Lunar Gravitational-Wave Antenna (LGWA). The development of such a mission requires the qualification of seismometers and other cryogenic technologies under representative lunar conditions. To support this effort, a laboratory-scale Moon Emulator is being developed to reproduce high-vacuum and cryogenic environments for testing and validation.
As part of this project, the presented work...
