Europe probe tests tech for detecting ripples in space time

What may sound like a frivolous enterprise is actually the prelude to a far more ambitious mission that hopes to measure ripples in space time caused by black holes and other massive objects lurking unseen in dark corners of the galaxy.

The LISA Pathfinder mission itself won't detect any gravitational waves, though.

Because the two 2-kilogram (4.4-pound) cubes are only 38 centimeters apart, any object big enough to affect their relative position would have to be so huge it would be visible with the naked eye, said Jennrich.

"Space-based gravitational wave detectors will detect gravitational waves that are not accessible by any other experiment: massive black holes at the center of galaxies colliding and merging into a larger black hole; smaller black holes swirling around massive black holes before falling in; and pairs of white dwarfs in our galaxy," said Gabriela Gonzalez, a professor of physics and astronomy at Louisiana State University who works on the LIGO detector near Livingston, Louisiana.

"[...] what will be really exciting is finding the things we don't know about yet," said Parmar.