The universe continues to prove startling, and it continues to throw out mysteries and theories that get revised each day. Recently, there have been discoveries that confirmed that Einstein’s century-old predictions might be true. This has encouraged Chinese scientists to do extensive research. They have unveiled three separate projects to find gravitational waves. China has an ambitious, military-run, multi-billion-dollar space program which focuses on this research.
Three institutes plan separate extensive research
As per the space officials, this research will give the country a chance to become a leader in this field. It will be ahead of all other nations in the world. A lot of research has been put in this program, and it is backed by huge chunk of funds. Gravitational waves have always fascinated scientists. They are direct evidence of ripples in the fabric of space-time, and their first-ever observation was announced by U.S. scientists last week. An old theory by Einstein has finally found evidence.
Following the detection, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) wants to take this research further, and they are not holding themselves back in terms of money. The Chinese Academy of Sciences rolled out a proposal for a space-based gravitational wave detection project. The news was confirmed by official Xinhua news agency. The plans have been drafted, and the program has been proposed. It will probably be named the Taiji program after the “supreme ultimate” of Chinese philosophy, symbolized by the yin-yang sign. As per the program, CAS would send satellites of its own into orbit or share equipment with the European Space Agency’s eLISA initiative.
Gravitational waves: the new rage in modern astronomy
Apart from that, Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou also proposed to launch satellites into space. Joining the party would be the Institute of High Energy Physics at CAS, who might try out a land-based scheme in Tibet. All the above-mentioned projects are awaiting government approval as of now.
A Chinese physicist has mixed views about this, and he has provided his statement to the People’s Daily Newspaper. “If we launch our own satellites, we will have a chance to be a world leader in gravitational wave research. Success depends on the decision-makers’ resolution and the country’s investment,” said physicist Hu Wenrui.
“If we can participate in these sorts of extremely precise technological projects, then in a short time it will give a huge boost to our country’s manufacturing industries,” said Chinese Academy of Sciences through its official Twitter account. The buzz around gravitational waves gained pace when scientists with the U.S.-based Large Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) said they had detected waves resulting from the collision of two black holes 1.3 billion years ago. The discovery was made last week, and news outlets ran the research galore, fueling interest like a raging machine. It is being considered one of the most crucial discoveries to date, which will lead to newer theories and interpretations. The executive director of the laboratory compared the discovery to Galileo’s use of the telescope four centuries ago. They all are treating it as a new step in modern astronomy.
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