Larsen & Toubro will construct LIGO-India in Hingoli, Maharashtra

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has received a deal from India’s Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) to build a ‘Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO)’ in Aundha of Hingoli district, Maharashtra.

• The project is valued between ₹1,000-2,500 crore and includes high-precision civil infrastructure, an 8 km ultra-high vacuum beam tube and necessary vacuum equipment.
• To be completed in 48 months, this initiative is set to become one of India’s flagship ‘mega science’ projects.
• It is an interferometer-based observatory designed to detect gravitational waves.

About ‘Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO)’

• Gravitational waves are ‘ripples’ in space-time caused by some of the most violent and energetic processes in the universe (such as neutron stars or black holes colliding with each other or orbiting each other).
• These cosmic waves then travel at the speed of light, carrying information about their origin and clues about the nature of gravity itself.
• Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves in his General Theory of Relativity in 1916.
• LIGO uses the physical properties of light and space to detect and understand the origin of gravitational waves.
• LIGO detects gravitational waves using laser interferometry to measure tiny changes in space caused by passing waves.
• It uses two L-shaped vacuum tunnels 4 km long to split a laser beam, reflect it with mirrors and recombine it, creating an interference pattern that shows the stretching or squeezing of space.

About LIGO India

• Approved by the Government of India in 2016, it is part of the worldwide network of gravitational wave observatories to further increase knowledge about gravitational waves, first detected in 2015 at LIGO-USA.
• The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST) carried it out under a memorandum of understanding with the National Science Foundation (NSF), USA.
• Institutes in India: Institute of Plasma Research (IPR) Gandhinagar, Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune and Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT), Indore.
• Other global gravitational wave observatories: LIGO (USA), VIRGO (Italy), KAGRA (Japan) etc.
• Importance for India: Development of astrophysical research leadership; technological advancement; industrial collaboration; international prestige and diplomacy, etc.