Progress of the US Laser Development for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) Program

Abstract

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) has been actively developing the laser transmitter for the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) program since the late 2017. We have delivered a prototype laser transmitter to the LISA program for performance evaluationin 2021. We continued to further develop the LISA laser with a goal of advancing the technology readiness level (TRL) of the laser to 6 by the end of 2023. In this paper, we report on the progress we made on the laser development for the LISA program.