BEIJING: China plans to launch its first satellite to test the technologies of the space-based gravitational wave detection program "Tianqin" by the end of 2019.
Tianqin, which means"harp in sky," was initiated by Sun Yat-sen University in south China's Guangdong Province in 2015,reports Xinhua.
The programme will consist of three satellites forming an equilateral triangle around the earth.
Mr Luo Jun, president of the Sun Yat-sen University and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences said ""It's like a harp in space.
If the gravitational waves come, the 'harp's strings" will be plucked,".
The detection will be based on high-precision laser interferometry technology to measure the changes of the distances and locations of the three satellites, Luo added.
Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves in 1916 in his general theory of relativity.
In February 2016,The American Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) announced discovery of gravitational waves.
It made scientists from all over the world to accelerate their research. Gravitational waves are caused by violent and energetic processes in the universe.
The "Laser Interferometer Space Antenna" project was launched by European Space Agency.
The space-based probes will be used to detect gravitational waves at much lower frequencies, which are generated by the merging of massive or supermassive black holes.
Scientists from Germany, Italy and Russia have expressed their willingness to cooperate with China in gravitational wave detection.