CHENNAI: Close on the heels of the historic finding on gravitational waves, a scientific effort in which experts from India collaborated and played a significant role, India has decided in-principle to set up a state-of-the-art gravitational wave observatory in collaboration with the LIGO laboratory in the US run by Caltech and MIT.
The union cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the in-principal to the LIGO-India project (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory in India), which will be piloted by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and Department of Science and Technology (DST).
This came just days after the group of scientists from around the world collaborated to detect gravitational waves, which opened up a new window to the great mysteries that the universe holds.
The project in India is expected to offer unprecedented opportunities for scientists and engineers to dig deeper into the realm of gravitational wave and take global leadership in this new astronomical frontier, said a statement from the union government today.
The LIGO-India project envisages setting up an observatory that would have eight kilometre long beam tube maintained at ultra-high vacuum on a levelled terrain, which would offer a rare opportunity for Indian industry to take part in a project that deals with cutting edge technology.