LAND HANDED OVER FOR FIRST LIGO PROJECT IN INDIA
- Hingoli income division handed around 225 hectares of land right in Maharashtra to the authorities of Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) venture.
Key Points
- The land was handed over in order to organise primary facility within the nation.
- There are currently few such labs in the United States, at Hanford in Washington and Livingston in Louisiana.
- These labs examine the gravitational waves.
- This venture will provide alternatives to scientists and engineers for digging deeper into concept of gravitational waves.
Background
- Central authorities had given an ‘in precept’ approval to LIGO-India mega science proposal in 2016, to analyse the gravitational waves.
What is LIGO?
- LIGO is a massive observatory to detect cosmic gravitational waves and to carry experiments.
- Its main objective is to make use of gravitational-wave observations in astronomical studies. This project currently operates three gravitational-wave (GW) detectors. Out of three, two are at Hanford in Washington while one is at Livingston in Louisiana.
LIGO India project
- The LIGO India project was proposed with the aim of moving one advanced LIGO detector to India, from Hanford.
- This project is piloted by Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).
- This project in India will be coordinated and executed jointly by three Indian research institutions namely, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT) in Indore, Department of Atomic Energy organisations: Institute for Plasma Research (IPR) in Gandhinagar and Inter-University Centre for Astronomy & Astrophysics (IUCAA) in Pune.