NASA is helping the European Space Agency develop space telescopes that can detect gravitational waves caused when black holes merge and when other cosmic events occur.

NASA showed off a telescope prototype for a new gravitational wave detection mission in space. The telescope is part of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission led by the European Space Agency (NSA) in partnership with NASA.

NASA has revealed the first look at a full-scale prototype for six telescopes that will enable, in the next decade, the space-based detection of gravitational waves—ripples in space-time caused by merging black holes and other cosmic sources.