Atom Interferometry, Demonstrated in Space, Opens Measurement Possibilities | Research & Technology | Apr 2021 photonics.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from photonics.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
For The First Time, Scientists Have Performed Atom Interferometry in Space
14 APRIL 2021
To make some of the most precise measurements we can of the world around us, scientists tend to go small - right down to the atomic scale, using a technique called atom interferometry.
Now, for the first time, scientists have performed this kind of measurement in space, using a sounding rocket specially designed to carry science payloads into low-Earth space.
It s a significant step towards being able to perform matter-wave interferometry in space, for science applications that range from fundamental physics to navigation. We have established the technological basis for atom interferometry on board of a sounding rocket and demonstrated that such experiments are not only possible on Earth, but also in space, said physicist Patrick Windpassinger of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in Germany.
Atom interferometry demonstrated in space for the first time eurekalert.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from eurekalert.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz Researchers present results of experiments with atom interferometry on a sounding rocket / Further rocket missions set to follow Extremely precise measurements are possible using atom interferometers that employ the wave character of atoms for this purpose. They can thus be used, for example, to measure the gravitational field of the Earth or to detect gravitational waves. A team of scientists from Germany has now managed to successfully perform atom interferometry in space for the first time – on board a sounding rocket. “We have established the technological basis for atom interferometry on board of a sounding rocket and demonstrated that such experiments are not only possible on Earth, but also in space,” said Professor Patrick Windpassinger of the Institute of Physics at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU), whose team was involved in the investigation. The results of their analys
HOUSTON (NASA PR) Dozens of experiments are going on at any given time aboard the
International Space Station. Research conducted in 2020 is advancing our understanding in areas of study from Parkinson’s disease to combustion.
Space station research results published this year came from experiments performed and data collected during the past 20 years of continuous human habitation aboard the orbiting laboratory. Between October 1, 2019, and October 1, 2020, the station’s Program Research Office identified more than 300 scientific publications based on space station research.
Here are the highlights of what we learned this year about groundbreaking space station science:
Small-scale drug delivery
ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti works with nanoparticle samples in the Kubik facility aboard the space station. (Credits: NASA)