Text: Microscope, a mission carried out in coordination with the French National Space Agency (CNES), is designed to test a concept from General Relativity called The Principle of Equivalence. According to this, objects are accelerated by gravity in the same way, independent of their mass and chemical composition. If Microscope detects a violation of this principle, it could be the clearest sign yet of a new dimension to gravity, known as quantum gravity. Quantum gravity is a much-sought-after theory. Its purpose is to reconcile Einstein's General Relativity with quantum physics, the most advanced theory describing the fundamental forces in Nature, with the exception of gravity. Quantum gravity supposes that space is granular on the smallest of scales. In a similar way, for example, a beach appears smooth from a distance but is actually composed of individual pieces of sand. Hyper, a mission currently under study at ESA would attempt to detect the quantum granularity of space, as one of its investigations into gravity.

See Also:

Source: