Construction of the first gravitational wave observatory in outer space will begin in January 2025. This is a project of the European Space Agency (ESA) in collaboration with NASA and will cost one billion euros.
The device is called the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), and consists of a constellation of three spacecraft that will capture the waves of space-time predicted by Albert Einstein more than 100 years ago. They will be equipped with gold and platinum cubes and laser technology.
The launch of the three devices is planned for 2035, on a rocket Ariane 6, with the aim of find the last piece of an ancient physics puzzle: the unification of the four fundamental forces of nature
say the agencies involved, which assure that the findings will lay the foundations for a new scientific discipline: gravitational cosmology.
The detection of gravitational waves has marked a turning point for modern physics and astronomy by allowing the observation of the collision or merger of black holes and neutron stars. The first discovery was made in 2015; since then, more than 100 have been confirmed. There are also many others awaiting validation for the publication of results.
said Miguel Alcubierre Moya, researcher at the Institute of Nuclear Sciences of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
In a lecture at the UNAM Biotechnology Institute, he explained that these spatial phenomena were predicted by Einstein in 1915 as part of his theory of general relativity. The German scientist then suggested that it was disturbances in the fabric of space-time caused by extreme cosmic events
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However, because the theory is complex (it requires advanced mathematical knowledge to understand it), and there were no experimental means to identify them directly, gravitational waves remained in question for decades and it took a hundred years before they were detected. Now, they will be studied with an interferometer (an instrument that subtly measures changes in waves).
The first direct detection was made by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO), located in the United States, on September 14, 2015. It was an event known as GW150914, which marked a milestone in physics and astronomy by validating Einstein’s predictions.
LISA Project
Regarding the future of observations and new experiments in this area, Alcubierre Moya highlighted that the LISA project will contribute to enriching the knowledge of the universe
as do ground-based detectors such as LIGO and its complement Virgo (an observatory in Europe), which use laser interferometry.
Rather than being on Earth, LISA is designed as a space mission with three satellites aligned in a triangular formation, separated by approximately 2.5 million kilometres. It will be located 50 million kilometres from our planet.
Gravitational waves are generated during large-scale cosmic events, such as the merger of black holes and neutron stars. But because of the times and distances involved, their effects are very subtle and diffuse on Earth. A change generated by such a wave is estimated to be the size of a fraction of a proton, so tiny that it cannot be observed on the scale of everyday life.
he explained.
In the 1960s, American physicist Joseph Weber set out to detect them and built large aluminum cylinders, about one meter in diameter and about one and a half meters long. These cylinders were designed to be extremely sensitive to vibrations.
In 1969, he reported that he had detected signals attributable to gravitational waves. But despite initial enthusiasm, doubts and controversy soon arose. Others tried to replicate the results without finding the same signals and ended up attributing the findings to other sources.
Although the scientific consensus did not accept Weber’s results, Alcubierre Moya considered that his work inspired the development of more advanced technologies, such as those used today by LIGO and Virgo.
According to an article published by Diego Blas Temiño, a researcher at the Department of Physics at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, LISA has the capacity to detect astrophysical bodies, test fundamental ideas about space-time, make progress in the properties of dark matter or even measure the rate of expansion of the universe.
He adds that even if it lasts a short time, the mission It will bring with it new information about the existence and evolution of new and surprising astrophysical configurations that are currently almost unknown (specifically, galactic binaries or binary black hole systems with masses far above that of our Sun) and has unprecedented potential to detect new physics, specifically, gravitational waves from the primordial universe, at the heart of the Big Bang.
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