China added another element to its program aimed at detecting gravitational waves by announcing a project to build the world's highest altitude gravitational wave telescopes in the Tibet Autonomous Region close to China's border with India.
This first telescope named Ngari No.1 will also be China's first gravitational telescope. It's part of a program that includes launching satellites to detect gravitational waves and building FAST (the Five hundred meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope) in southwest China's Guizhou Province.
Ngari No.1 will search for the faintest echoes resonating from the Universe, which may reveal more about the Big Bang. The Ngari Gravitational Wave Observatory will be located 30 kilometers south of Shiquanhe Town in Ngari Prefecture.
The telescope, located 5,250 meters above sea level, will detect and gather precise data on primordial gravitational waves in the Northern Hemisphere. It is expected to be operational by 2021, said Yao Yongqiang, chief researcher with the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Yao said the second phase of the project involves building a second telescope (named Ngari No. 2) located 6,000 meters above sea level. He did not give a time frame for construction of Ngari No. 2.
The budget for the two-phase Ngari gravitational wave observatory is an estimated $18.8 million. The project was initiated by the Institute of High Energy Physics, National Astronomical Observatories and Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, among others.
Yao said the Ngari observatory will be among the world's top primordial gravitational wave observation bases, alongside the South Pole Telescope and the facility in Chile's Atacama Desert. With its high altitude, clear sky, and minimal human activity, Ngari is one of the world's best spots to detect tiny twists in cosmic light.
Gravitational waves were first proposed by Albert Einstein's Theory of General Relativity 100 years ago. It wasn't until 2016, however, that scientists using the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) announced proof of the waves' existence, spurring fresh research interest among world's scientists.