Chinese scientists have unveiled three separate projects to investigate gravitational waves, state media said Wednesday, days after earthshaking US discoveries that confirmed Einstein's century-old predictions, as Phys.org reports.

Space officials said such research would give China—which has an ambitious, military-run, multi-billion-dollar space programme that Beijing sees as symbolising the country's progress—an opportunity to become a "world leader" in the field.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) rolled out a proposal for a space-based gravitational wave detection project, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The proposed Taiji programme would send satellites of its own into orbit or share equipment with the European Space Agency's eLISA initiative.

Separately, Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou also proposed to launch satellites into space, while the Institute of High Energy Physics at CAS suggested a land-based scheme in Tibet.

All three projects have yet to obtain government approval, state media said.

bbabo.Net