As per the information provided by the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh in Lok Sabha on July 18, 2018, the Government of India has given ‘In-Principle’ approval for Construction and Operation of Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Laboratory – India (LIGO) in India in collaboration with LIGO Laboratory, United States of America.
- This is the third observatory identical to the two LIGO observatories in USA.
- An MoU has been signed between DAE-DST of India and National Science Foundation of USA on 30.03.2016. LIGO-India Observatory is scheduled to be operational in 2024.
- Of the various sites surveyed for this project, the site in Hingoli District of Maharashtra has been selected as the primary site and the process of acquiring land for the project is in advanced stage.
About LIGO
- The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is designed to open the field of gravitational-wave astrophysics through the direct detection of gravitational waves predicted by Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity.
- LIGO’s multi-kilometer-scale gravitational wave detectors use laser interferometry to measure the minute ripples in space-time caused by passing gravitational waves from cataclysmic cosmic sources such as the mergers of pairs of neutron stars or black holes, or by supernovae.
- LIGO consists of two widely separated interferometers within the United States—one in Hanford, Washington and the other in Livingston, Louisiana—operated in unison to detect gravitational waves.
