Episode details
Available for over a year
The search in outer space for gravitational waves, regarded as the holy grail of astrophysics, is being spearheaded not from California, Russia or China, but Stevenage in Hertfordshire. Engineers have built a European Space Agency satellite to carry out experiments that could help to reveal mysteries from the birth of the universe. The mission is designed to test technology which, if successful, will find gravitational waves and allow us to "listen" to the universe using Einstein's general theory of relativity. The spacecraft is known as Lisa Pathfinder and Dr David Parker, Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency, said that if successful it will be like "only seeing a silent movie and then somebody turning the sound on". This clip is originally from 5 live Breakfast on December 3rd 2015.
Programme Website