Government approves building of gravitational wave observatory for Rs 1,200 crore

BENGALURU: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday gave in-principle approval to build a gravitational wave observatory in India for Rs 1,200 crore. This observatory will become part of the Laser Interferometry Gravitational Observatory ( LIGO) network that last week detected the gravitational waves created by two black holes that merged 1.3 billion light years away.

It will take about five to eight years to build the observatory in India. Its approval was expected after the tweet last week by Prime Minister Modi about building an advanced gravitation wave detector in the country. The Ligo observatory has two detectors in the US at the moment, and a detector in India will greatly enhance the potential of the network by improving the accuracy of detection.

It will also provide a new generation of Indian gravitational physicists to do cutting edge research in the country itself. The project will be coordinated by the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics ( IUCAA) in Pune, Institute for Plasma Research ( IPR) in Gandhinagar and the Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology ( RRCAT) in Indore.