China is setting up the world's highest altitude gravitational wave telescopes in Tibet, close to the Line of Actual Control with India.
The telescopes are being set up with a budget of USD 18.8 million to detect the faintest echoes resonating from the universe which may reveal more about the Big Bang theory.
Construction has started for the first telescope codenamed
Ngari No 1, 30 km south of Shiquanhe Town in Ngari Prefecture.
Parts of Nagri are in the last Tibetan prefecture at China's border with India. The telescope located 5250 m above sea level, will gather accurate data on the primordial gravitational waves in the Northern Hemisphere.
It will be operational by 2021. The 2nd phase involves a series of telescopes, code-named Ngari No 2, to be located about 6,000 meters above sea level.
Construction for the two phase Ngari gravitational wave observatory is 130 million yuan. The project has been initiated by Institute of High Energy Physics, National Astronomical Observatories and Shanghai Institute of Microsystems and Information Technology, along with others.
Ngari with a high attitude, clear sky and minimal human activity is said to be the world's best spot to detect twists in cosmic light.
It will be among the world's top primordial gravitational wave observation bases.
G-Waves: Know More- The top gravitational wave observation bases currently include the South Pole Telescope and the telescope at Chile's Atacama Desert.
- Gravitational waves (G-waves) were first proposed by Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity.
- This theory was discovered 100 years ago.
- It was in 2016 that LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave) Observatory announced the proof of the wave existence, spurring fresh research among world scientists.
- In September 2016, China commissioned the world's largest radio telescope to understand more about the universe and the possibility of alien life.
- The telescope's main structure is a reflector as large as 30 football pitches built in the unique valley at Guizhou.
