The LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) project has the potential to change the country’s standing in the scientific community
Posted Date – Tue, 11 Apr 23 at 12:30pm
The LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) project has the potential to change the country’s standing in the scientific community
Despite its abundance of resources and talent, the general objection to India is that it has repeatedly missed the bus in terms of harnessing the potential of technological innovation. This slow and lackluster response is often blamed for India’s inability to launch truly global products. However, the recently approved LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) project has the potential to change the country’s standing in the scientific community. After years of delays, cabinet finally gave the green light to the project, clearing the way for the construction of the country’s largest science facility, which will join an ongoing global effort to unlock the mysteries of the universe by detecting and studying gravitational waves. LIGO is an international network of laboratories that detect ripples in space-time created by the motion of large objects such as stars and planets. These ripples were first proposed nearly 100 years ago in Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity, which outlines our current understanding of how gravity works. LIGO-India is expected to cost 26 billion rupees to build. It will be located in the Hingoli district of Maharashtra, about 450 kilometers away from Mumbai. It is planned to start scientific operation in 2030. India has never built a cutting-edge scientific facility on its soil and at this scale, LIGO could bring huge spin-off benefits to the science and technology sector. The collaboration is a recognition of the country’s scientific capabilities and possibilities.
India will play a major role in the future detection of gravitational waves – one of the most significant physics discoveries made by US scientists in 2015. LIGO-India is part of a plan to expand the network of gravitational wave observatories to increase the chances of detecting these waves from anywhere in the observable universe and to improve the accuracy and quality of the information gathered therefrom. At least 10 events that produced gravitational waves have been detected so far. In addition to the United States, such gravitational wave observatories are currently operating in Europe and Japan. India has been an active collaborator in many international scientific projects, including the Large Hadron Collider Experiment and ITER, which aims to create a thermonuclear reactor capable of controlled fusion reactions. India is also expected to be a partner nation to build the next space station later this decade. With tech seamlessly connected, major league projects are important, yet India’s overall tech spending remains woefully inadequate. There is a greater need to fund large research projects at universities, modeled on the National Science Foundation, which has played a key role in transforming American universities into research powerhouses. China’s Thousand Talents Program launched in 2008 is also worth emulating. It brings back top Chinese scientists living abroad through incentives.
