Scientists have long dreamed of launching a constellation of detectors into space to detect gravitational waves – ripples in space-time first predicted by Albert Einstein and observed for the first time earlier this month.
That dream is now a step closer to reality. Researchers working on a €400 million (US$440 million) mission to try out the necessary technology in space for the first time—involving firing lasers between metal cubes in freefall – have told Nature that the initial test-drive is performing just as well as they had hoped.
“I think we can now say that the principle has worked,” says Paul McNamara, project scientist for the LISA Pathfinder mission, which launched in December. “We believe that we now are in a good shape to look to the future and look to the next generation.”
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