SPACECRAFT Cassini will spend the next 40 days hunting for gravitational
waves as it cruises past Earth on its seven-year trip to Saturn. Gravity waves
are slight ripples in the space-time fabric of the Universe, created by massive
bodies such as black holes. Einstein predicted them, but they’ve never been
detected directly. Three Earth-based stations will try to spot tiny fluctuations
in Cassini’s speed as gravity waves stretch and compress space. It’s a long
shot, says John Armstrong of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “But if you don’t
look, you won’t see anything.”
More from New Scientist
Explore the latest news, articles and features
Space
Hubble Space Telescope is falling to Earth – should NASA save it?
News
Space
A robot called GIMLI will explore a lunar cave for a future moon base
91ɫÇéƬ
91ɫÇéƬ
The economic benefits of the covid vaccines may be double what we thought
News
Humans
Tomb in Siberia reveals humans were using cannabis 2800 years ago
News
Popular articles
Trending New Scientist articles