LISA Pathfinder is an ESA mission that will demonstrate the key technologies to be used in the future LISA mission. One of the most technologically challenging device of the LISA Technology Package to be flown on LISA Pathfinder is the so called Caging Mechanism (CM). This mechanism has mainly 2 functions: 1) to cage a Test Mass (TM) during the launch phase (applying a very high pre-load without damaging the TM surface); 2) to grab, position, centre and release the TM when the orbit position has been reached and whenever needed. The first function is performed by a hydraulic actuator named Caging Mechanism SubSystem (CMSS). In this paper the technological challenges and the solutions implemented to realize the CMSS, will be shown.
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