ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

Home → Space

Gravity wave breakthrough imminent as NASA and ESA set up unique experiment

It's one of the strangest experiment ever devised, and it may very well revolutionize science.

Mihai AndreibyMihai Andrei
June 8, 2016
in Astronomy, News, Space
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterSubmit to Reddit

RelatedPosts

Growing food with Martian soil is challenging but it’s not impossible
Failing carbon policies: we’re seeing the largest carbon emissions increase in 30 years
Climate change will cause lower crop yields than expected and threaten global food security
Astronauts set to return home after 520 days Mars mock-up mission

It’s one of the strangest experiment ever devised, and it may very well revolutionize science.

Graphical depiction of two merging black holes, a phenomenon which could be studied through gravitational waves. Image via Wikipedia.

When the first announcement about gravitational waves came out, physicists were thrilled. But after the initial excitement waned, not much was changed. Don’t get me wrong – it was a monumental discovery, but it was more or less expected. If gravitational waves were disproven, then it would have been breaking for many careers. Years and decades of research would have been invalidated, and it would have been back to the drawing board for many theoretical physicists – but that didn’t happen. Researchers did discover gravitational waves and now we’re up to the next question: what exactly can we do with this discovery?

Well for starters, we could use them to study some facets of the universe, which is already what we’re kind of trying to do. LISA Pathfinder, a mission led by the European Space Agency (ESA) with contributions from NASA, developed the ground-based Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) to observe gravity waves and their implications. But due to seismic and thermal interferences, LIGO could only study gravity waves around 100 cycles per second (100 hertz). However, many important phenomena (such as galactic collisions or black hole mergers) can only be observed at much lower frequencies of around 1 hertz — so they set up to build a space observatory, which could help us better study such events.

The whole thing is almost set. In space, shielded inside a European Space Agency spacecraft called LISA Pathfinder, two 4.6-centimeter gold-platinum cubes have reached an almost-perfect state of stillness – something that would have been impossible on Earth. The two plates have motions caused purely by gravitational forces, eliminating all other sources of vibration. The preliminary results are already thrilling.

“The measurements have exceeded our most optimistic expectations,” said Paul McNamara, the LISA Pathfinder project scientist at ESA’s Directorate of Science, Noordwijk, the Netherlands. “We reached the level of precision originally required for LISA Pathfinder within the first day, and so we spent the following weeks improving the results a factor of five better.”

“LISA Pathfinder was always intended as a stepping stone to the level of performance needed for a full-scale gravitational wave observatory, but these results tell us we’ve nearly made the full jump. A full-scale observatory with LISA Pathfinder’s performance would achieve essentially all of the ultimate science goals,” said Ira Thorpe, a team member at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “That’s amazing in itself, and data from this mission will help us build on an already impressive foundation.”

With this technology, we could study not only the gravitational waves themselves but use gravitational waves and gather previously inaccessible information. What was only a theoretical concept predicted by Einstein is starting to become a useful tool – and we couldn’t be happier about it.

ShareTweetShare
Mihai Andrei

Mihai Andrei

Dr. Andrei Mihai is a geophysicist and founder of ZME Science. He has a Ph.D. in geophysics and archaeology and has completed courses from prestigious universities (with programs ranging from climate and astronomy to chemistry and geology). He is passionate about making research more accessible to everyone and communicating news and features to a broad audience.

Related Posts

News

Coolness Isn’t About Looks or Money. It’s About These Six Things, According to Science

byTibi Puiu
19 hours ago
Archaeology

Ancient Roman Pompeii had way more erotic art than you’d think

byMihai Andrei
19 hours ago
Animals

Wild Orcas Are Offering Fish to Humans and Scientists Say They May Be Trying to Bond with Us

byTibi Puiu
20 hours ago
Clumps of gold recovered from a mine placed on a wooden table.
Chemistry

No Mercury, No Cyanide: This is the Safest and Greenest Way to Recover Gold from E-waste

byRupendra Brahambhatt
21 hours ago

Recent news

Coolness Isn’t About Looks or Money. It’s About These Six Things, According to Science

July 1, 2025

Ancient Roman Pompeii had way more erotic art than you’d think

July 1, 2025

Wild Orcas Are Offering Fish to Humans and Scientists Say They May Be Trying to Bond with Us

July 1, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Editorial Policy
  • Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
  • How we review products
  • Contact

© 2007-2025 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Science News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Space
  • Future
  • Features
    • Natural Sciences
    • Physics
      • Matter and Energy
      • Quantum Mechanics
      • Thermodynamics
    • Chemistry
      • Periodic Table
      • Applied Chemistry
      • Materials
      • Physical Chemistry
    • Biology
      • Anatomy
      • Biochemistry
      • Ecology
      • Genetics
      • Microbiology
      • Plants and Fungi
    • Geology and Paleontology
      • Planet Earth
      • Earth Dynamics
      • Rocks and Minerals
      • Volcanoes
      • Dinosaurs
      • Fossils
    • Animals
      • Mammals
      • Birds
      • Fish
      • Amphibians
      • Reptiles
      • Invertebrates
      • Pets
      • Conservation
      • Animal facts
    • Climate and Weather
      • Climate change
      • Weather and atmosphere
    • Health
      • Drugs
      • Diseases and Conditions
      • Human Body
      • Mind and Brain
      • Food and Nutrition
      • Wellness
    • History and Humanities
      • Anthropology
      • Archaeology
      • History
      • Economics
      • People
      • Sociology
    • Space & Astronomy
      • The Solar System
      • Sun
      • The Moon
      • Planets
      • Asteroids, meteors & comets
      • Astronomy
      • Astrophysics
      • Cosmology
      • Exoplanets & Alien Life
      • Spaceflight and Exploration
    • Technology
      • Computer Science & IT
      • Engineering
      • Inventions
      • Sustainability
      • Renewable Energy
      • Green Living
    • Culture
    • Resources
  • Videos
  • Reviews
  • About Us
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Editorial policy
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2025 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.