According to the website of the British journal nature on January 22, India plans to start construction of its own LIGO (laser pointer interferometer gravitational wave observatory), the advanced LIGO (aLIGO), which has received final approval. The $177 million observatory is expected to improve the sensitivity and accuracy of gravitational wave detection by 2024.
ALIGO will help scientists achieve three major goals: to identify the source of gravitational waves with five to 10 times more accuracy than existing discoveries; Accurately calculate the size of a black hole; Better understand how fast the universe is expanding.
In 2015, LIGO in the United States first discovered gravitational waves — the radiation and energy produced by two colliding black holes — confirming Einstein’s prediction and opening up new ways to study the universe. LIGO consists of two interferometers, each with two 4-kilometer-long l-shaped arms, located 3,000 kilometers apart in livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington.
Since 2016, a team of Indian scientists has been working with us scientists to build a similar gravitational wave observatory in India. In March 2016, India’s ministry of atomic energy and its ministry of science and technology signed a memorandum of understanding (mou) with the national science foundation of the United States on cooperation in the construction of LIGO project in India. According to the agreement, LIGO lab will provide a complete set of hardware, design data, etc. India provides the needed space, vacuum systems and other infrastructure. The government expects to make all the money available by 2020. The aLIGO observatory, to be built in the singhuri district of the western Indian state of maharashtra, will be the world’s sixth gravitational wave detector.
“ALIGO will help Indian astronomers work with global partners to bring new insights into this dynamic field,” said asutshi sharma, minister of science and technology.