Context: 

The United States National Science Foundation is partnering with India’s Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology  to launch LIGO- ­India.

About Laser Interferometer Gravitational­ Wave Observatory (LIGO):

• LIGO is the world’s largest gravitational wave observatory.
• Scientific collaboration: It is  a scientific collaboration and marvel of engineering that consists of two facilities in the United States, one in the Pacific Northwest at Hanford, Washington, and another near the Gulf of Mexico in Livingston, Louisiana. 
• Interferometry: 

• • LIGO uses lasers to detect ripples in space-time through a method called interferometry.
  • As gravitational waves pass by, they cause space itself to stretch and squeeze, which scientists can measure through changes in the beams of the LIGO lasers.

• Contribution of LIGO: 

• • It has provided new clues about merging black holes, the existence of neutron stars and the origin of the universe. 
  • It has opened an entirely new way of observing the universe — astronomers have been studying light from the universe for thousands of years, but now we can also “hear” the universe through gravitational waves.

About LIGO-India

• LIGO-India is an advanced gravitational-wave observatory planned to be located in India.
• It is a multidisciplinary mega-science project that requires expertise from various fields and provides cutting-edge research opportunities.
• The project is a collaboration between a consortium of Indian research institutions and the U.S. observatories, plus several international partners.
• The observatory will be the third of its kind after Louisiana and Washington in the U.S. 
  • LIGO-India will work in tandem with them.
• Built by: The Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Science and Technology, along with a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Science Foundation and other institutions.
• Location: Hingoli district of Maharashtra, and is scheduled to begin scientific runs from 2030.
• Project Cost: Rs 2,600 crore

What are Gravitational Waves?

• Gravitational waves are ‘ripples’ in space-time caused by violent and energetic processes in the Universe.
• Albert Einstein predicted their existence in his General Theory of Relativity in 1916.
• Moving objects produce gravitational waves in spacetime, similar to a moving boat producing ripples in water.
• These waves travel at the speed of light, carrying information about their origins and clues to the nature of gravity.
• First discovery: 

1. 1. In 2015, for the first time in human history, physicists observed the gravitational waves emanating from two merging black holes, 1.3 million light years from earth. 
   2. This Nobel prize­ winning breakthrough was accomplished by LIGO.  

                                                                                                                                         News Source: The Hindu

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