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An atomic clock
that could pave the way for an autonomous journey in deep space has been successfully activated
last week and is ready to begin its one-year technology demo, the mission team
confirmed on Friday, August 23, 2019. Launched in June, NASA's deep space atomic clock is a crucial step towards creating a spaceship
to move safely in the open spaces rather than relying on the
tedious process of receiving instructions from the Earth.
Developed at
NASA's reaction propulsion laboratory in Pasadena, California, the clock is the
first timekeeper stable enough to map the trajectory of a spacecraft in deep space, while
to be small enough to fly aboard the spaceship. A more stable clock can
operate further away from the Earth, where it must function well for longer periods than
satellites closer to home.
Atomic clocks,
like those used in GPS satellites, are used to measure the distance between
objects timing how long it takes the signal to get from point A to point B.
For space exploration, the atomic clocks must be extremely precise: a mistake of
even a second means the difference between landing on a planet like Mars or
miss it by hundreds of thousands of miles. Up to 50 times more stable than
Atomic clocks of GPS satellites, the atomic mercury-ion clock loses a second
every 10 million years, as proven by controlled trials on Earth. Now he is going
test this accuracy in the space.
browsers
currently use atomic clocks the size of a refrigerator on Earth to locate a spacecraft
location. Minutes to hours can go by when a signal is sent from the Earth to
spacecraft before being sent back to Earth, where it is used to create
instructions which are then returned to the probe. A clock on board a
spacecraft would allow the spaceship to calculate its own trajectory, instead
to wait for the browsers on Earth to send this information. This advancement would be
free missions to travel further and, eventually, safely transport humans to other
planets.
"The goal
of the space experience is to put the depths
Space atomic clock in the context of an operating spacecraft – complete with
things that affect the stability and accuracy of a clock – and see if it
performs at the level we think it's going: with orders of magnitude more stability
than the existing space clocks, "said Todd Ely's senior investigator
from project to JPL.
While coming
months, the team will measure the extent to which the timer is on time.
nanosecond. The results begin the countdown to a day when technology can safely
help astronauts navigate themselves to other worlds.
The atomic clock of deep space is hosted on a spaceship
provided by General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems of Englewood, Colorado. he
is sponsored by the Technology
Program of demonstration missions in NASA's space technology mission
Direction and the Space
Communications and Navigation Program within the human exploration and NASA operations
Mission Direction. JPL manages the project.
Media contact
Arielle Samuelson
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
818-354-0307
[email protected]
2019-174
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