DECIGO pathfinder

Abstract

DECIGO pathfinder (DPF) is a milestone satellite mission for DECIGO (DECihertz Interferometer Gravitational wave Observatory), which is a future space gravitational wave antenna. DECIGO is expected to provide fruitful insights into the universe, particularly about dark energy, the formation mechanism of supermassive black holes and the inflation of the universe. Since DECIGO will be an extremely challenging mission, which will be formed by three drag-free spacecraft with 1000 km separation, it is important to increase the technical feasibility of DECIGO before its planned launch in 2024. Thus, we are planning to launch two milestone missions: DPF and pre-DECIGO. In this paper, we review the conceptual design and current status of the first milestone mission, DPF. © 2009 IOP Publishing Ltd.