WASHINGTON –India has inked an agreement with the US to establish itself as an authority in gravitational waves research by setting up a new Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) in the country.
The agreement was signed between India’s Department of Atomic Energy and the National Science Foundation in the US – a deal that was inked during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US for the Nuclear Security Summit.
The LIGO observatory made a name for itself by playing a major role in finding evidence of gravitational waves in the universe with the help of the sophisticated lab. With India progressing rapidly in the world of astronomy, space and physics research, LIGO was a logical step for the country’s scientific community.
According to the official announcement, LIGO in India will be equipped with sensitive instruments capable of detecting sub-atomic movements in the space and registers activities that are caused when gravitational waves pass through the Earth.
Soon after the new broke that Albert Einstein’s gravitational waves have been detected for the first time, Modi tweeted: “Historic detection of gravitational waves opens up a new frontier for the understanding of the universe.”
“Hope to move forward to make an even bigger contribution with an advanced gravitational wave detector in the country,” he added. “What was significant about this project was that now India has agreed to be a part of this project,” said external affairs ministry spokesperson VikasSwarup, on Thursday.
One of the reasons for choosing India as the centre of the ambitious project is largely because of its geography, which favors the research.Local media reports in the country quoted multiple government sources saying that the Indian cabinet has approved $180 billion for the project.
The historic agreement transpired during Modi’s interaction with eminent scientists who worked behind the breakthrough discovery of gravitational waves, which also includes Indian-origin scientists.