Advanced Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) to be Set up in Maharashtra

Current Context: The Union Cabinet approved the project to build an Advanced Gravitational-wave Detector (LIGO-Laser Interferometer Gravitational- Wave Observatory) on 174 acres of land in Maharashtra's Hingoli district at an estimated cost of Rs 2,600 crore.

The Director of the Raman Research Institute Bengaluru said that this LIGO will which was created will help in cutting-edge frontiers of great national relevance, especially quantum-sensing and metrology.
LIGO is built by the U.S. Department of Atomic Energy and the Department of Science and Technology.
This will be accompanied by an MoU with the National Science Foundation and several national and international research institutes.
The Government of India had given in-principal approval to the project in February 2016.
LIGO is the world's most powerful observatory that exploits the physical properties of light and space to detect and understand the origin of gravitational waves.
This observatory will help in better understanding of celestial objects like neutron stars and black holes and in-depth study of gravitational waves.
Each LIGO detector has two arms, each 4 kilometres long, consisting of 2-meter-wide steel vacuum tubes arranged in an "L" shape and anchored by a 10-foot-wide, 12-foot-tall concrete shelter. are covered, which protect the tubes from fire.