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question: according to Wikipedia, LIGO was built between 1994-2002, and didn't detect gravitational waves until 2016. I never heard about LIGO until the discov

question: according to Wikipedia, LIGO was built between 1994-2002, and didn't detect gravitational waves until 2016. I never heard about LIGO until the discovery in 2016, so for almost 20 years it was off my radar, so to speak. What multi-decade experiments are being created today, which will be ready to produce amazing results in 20-30 years? What's currently under construction, but I'll never hear about it until 20 years from now, when it makes an amazing discovery?

BbzzbB 5y ago
According to another commenter, LISA will be the successor to LIGO's line of gravitational-wave astronomy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_Interferometer_Space_Antenna https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_Interferometer_Space_Ant...
mr_sturd 5y ago
My head instantly went to fusion experiments[0]. There are planned experiments in that space which, if they go ahead, won't produce results until the 2040s. [0] - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fusion_experiments https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fusion_experiments
ww520 5y ago
From the talk by the Caltech professor leading LIGO, the theory was good on paper but the engineering problems were very tough. The platform to make measurement has to be absolutely still. But the Earth always has some movements due to seismic activities. For years they just couldn't get the passive vibration isolation tech stable enough for the measurement to work. The project was almost canceled. Finally they went back to the drawing board and partnered with some companies to build new active vibration isolation technologies. It took years to get it working. Their active vibration isolation technology is insanely good. It basically detects tiny seismic movement of the Earth far away and actively compensates the stable platform. This is one instance of scientific project spawning off new technologies, which will have many other uses in the future.

BbzzbB 5y ago

According to another commenter, LISA will be the successor to LIGO's line of gravitational-wave astronomy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_Interferometer_Space_Antenna https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_Interferometer_Space_Ant...

mr_sturd 5y ago

My head instantly went to fusion experiments[0]. There are planned experiments in that space which, if they go ahead, won't produce results until the 2040s. [0] - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fusion_experiments https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fusion_experiments

ww520 5y ago

From the talk by the Caltech professor leading LIGO, the theory was good on paper but the engineering problems were very tough. The platform to make measurement has to be absolutely still. But the Earth always has some movements due to seismic activities. For years they just couldn't get the passive vibration isolation tech stable enough for the measurement to work. The project was almost canceled. Finally they went back to the drawing board and partnered with some companies to build new active vibration isolation technologies. It took years to get it working. Their active vibration isolation technology is insanely good. It basically detects tiny seismic movement of the Earth far away and actively compensates the stable platform. This is one instance of scientific project spawning off new technologies, which will have many other uses in the future.