India will sign an MoU with the United States for building a state-of-the-art Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) project in the country.

• The MoU will be signed between the National Science Foundation (NSF) of the US and India’s Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and Department of Science and Technology (DST).
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet scientists from the LIGO project.
• The MoU also states of forming a Joint Oversight Group (JOG) with the scientists from NSF, DAE and DST for better coordination of the project.
• The government last month gave an “in-principle approval” for establishing the LIGO-India project which will establish a state-of-the-art gravitational wave observatory in India in collaboration with the LIGO Laboratory in the US, run by Caltech and MIT.
• The project will bring unprecedented opportunities for scientists and engineers to dig deeper into the realm of gravitational wave and take global leadership in this new astronomical frontier.
• A meeting to decide the site for setting up the laboratory in India will take place by April 10.

LIGO-India will also bring considerable opportunities in cutting edge technology for the Indian industry which will be engaged in the construction of an 8 km-long beam tube at ultra-high vacuum on a levelled terrain.