India-US to sign MoU for building LIGO project

India will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United States on Thursday 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.

DAE secretary Sekhar Basu will sign the agreement in the US today.

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.

A meeting to decide the site for setting up the laboratory in India will take place by April 10.

The machines that gave scientists their first-ever glimpse at gravitational waves are the most advanced detectors ever built for sensing tiny vibrations in the universe.