AI-rewritten: This is a summary of an article from Ars Technica, rewritten by AI (Qwen, running locally) to make it easier to read. The facts come from the original article – read it for the full story.

---

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman states that future international partnerships must involve "meaningful contributions" from partners who offer capabilities US companies do not already possess. This approach has created friction with the European Space Agency (ESA), which lost its role in the canceled Lunar Gateway project and was rejected for a cargo lander proposal. In contrast, NASA highlights successful agreements where Japan provides a pressurized rover and Italy builds a habitat module.

A prime example of this strategy is the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission, a space-based observatory designed to detect gravitational waves. Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of space-time caused by distant cosmic events like black hole collisions. The LISA mission will use three spacecraft flying in a triangle formation millions of miles apart to measure these signals. NASA is responsible for supplying lasers and data analysis, while ESA will build and operate the spacecraft.

Ira Thorpe, a gravitational wave astronomer leading the US science team, describes this arrangement as a "very good deal" for the United States. He estimates that if NASA built the observatory alone, it would cost roughly $3 billion. Under the current partnership, NASA contributes about one-third of the cost but receives 100 percent of the scientific data. Although the Trump administration previously proposed canceling NASA’s participation in LISA, Congress restored funding for fiscal year 2026 and is expected to continue supporting the mission.