Satellite for Space-Based Gravitational Wave Detection

(China Daily, October 15, 2018)

China plans to launch its first satellite to test the technologies of the space-based gravitational wave detection program "Tianqin" by the end of 2019. The program Tianqin, meaning "harp in sky," was initiated by Sun Yat-sen University in Guangdong province in 2015. It will consist of three satellites forming an equilateral triangle around the earth. "It's like a harp in space. If the gravitational waves come, the 'harp's strings" will be plucked," said Luo Jun, president of the Sun Yat-sen University and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The detection will be based on high-precision laser interferometry technology to measure the changes of the distances and locations of the three satellites.