China coming up with USD 18.8 million Gravitational waves observatory near Actual Control with India
China will set up world's
highest altitude gravitational wave telescopes with a budget of USD 18.8
million close to the Actual Control with India.
China building world's highest altitude gravitational waves observatory in Tibet (Representational Pic)
Beijing :
Scientists have been trying to unearth the mysteries of the
Big Bang and the birth of the universe. In order to know more about the
Big Bang theory and in a bid to detect faintest echoes resonating from
the universe, China is coming up with gravitational wave telescopes in
Tibet.
The highest altitude gravitational wave telescopes in the world with a
budget of USD 18.8 million will be set up close to the Actual Control
with India.
The first telescope is already under-construction and
has been code-named Ngari No 1, said Yao Yongqiang, chief researcher
with the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of
Sciences. Yongqiang further said that the first telescope is being set
up 30 km south of Shiquanhe Town in Ngari Prefecture.
Parts of Nagri is last Tibetan prefecture at China's border with India.
The first telescope is located 5,250 meters above the level of the sea. It will detect and collect precise data on primordial
gravitational waves in the Northern Hemisphere.
The telescope is likely to go operational by 2021, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
In
the second phase, a series of telescopes, code-named Ngari No 2 will be
located about 6,000 meters above the level of the sea, said Yongqiang.
Yongqiang
didn't spoke as to when will the construction of Ngari No 2 begin.
There will be only two phases of Ngari gravitational wave observatory
the estimated budget for which has been set up at 130 million yuan (USD
18.8 million).
The Institute of High Energy Physics, National
Astronomical Observatories, and Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and
Information Technology, among others initiated the project, the report
said.
Ngari sports high altitude, clear sky and minimal human
activity. It is said to be one of the best spots in the world to detect
tiny twists in cosmic light.
Yao said the Ngari observatory will
be among the world's top primordial gravitational wave observation
bases, alongside the South Pole Telescope and the facility in Chile's
Atacama Desert.
Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity
first proposed the gravitational waves 100 years ago. But it wasn't
until 2016 that scientists with the Laser Interferometer
Gravitational-Wave Observatory announced proof of the waves' existence,
spurring fresh research interest among the world's scientists.
Last
September, China commissioned the world's largest radio telescope in a
mountainous region of southwest China's Guizhou Province to search for
more strange objects space, gain better understand the origin of the
universe and to boost the global hunt for extraterrestrial life.
The
installation of the telescope's main structure -- a 4,450-panel
reflector as large as 30 football pitches was built at unique valley in
Guizhou Province.
(With inputs from PTI)
