The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) unveiled a newly developed prototype of a telescope that can be used to study gravitational waves in outer space.
The telescope was built as part of a joint mission with the European Space Agency (NSA) called Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). The main objective of the LISA mission is to study gravitational waves by putting three spacecrafts into the Earth’s orbit and positioning them in a triangular format with 1.6 million miles on each side.
Each of the three spacecrafts will carry two telescopes to detect infrared laser beams from the other spacecraft. Researchers expect to detect a gravitational wave when one of the three spacecrafts alter their characteristic pattern.
“The primary mirror is coated in gold to better reflect the infrared lasers and to reduce heat loss from a surface exposed to cold space since the telescope will operate best when close to room temperature,” Nasa said on its website.
“The prototype is made entirely from an amber-colored glass-ceramic called Zerodur, manufactured by Schott in Mainz, Germany. The material is widely used for telescope mirrors and other applications requiring high precision because its shape changes very little over a wide range of temperatures,” it added.
The mission is scheduled for take-off by 2030.
What are gravitational waves?
First discovered by Albert Einstein in 1916, gravitational waves are known to be created due to two black holes colliding with each other. In 2016, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) Scientific Collaboration comprising National Science Foundation, Caltechl, and MIT researchers detected the first gravitational waves ever, proving Einstein’s theory right.
By detecting and studying gravitational waves, scientists hope to enhance humanity’s understanding of the universe and less-explored phenomena such as black holes and the Big Bang that may not be easy to analyse using other tools, Nasa said.