The first experiment to measure gravitational waves from space has been given the green light by the European Space Agency (ESA).
The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) will use the precise timing of laser beams travelling across 2.5 million kilometres of the Solar System to hunt for gigantic ripples in space-time caused by mergers between supermassive black holes, among other events.
ESA announced on 25 January that construction of the multibillion-euro mission will begin in 2025, with the launch planned for 2035. “It’s extremely exciting,” says Valeriya Korol, an astrophysicist at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching, Germany, and a member of the LISA collaboration. “It will open a window to gravitational-wave sources that only LISA can see.”
To read more, click here.