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NASA Scientists Excited to Use the Most Precise Atomic Clocks as It Will Help Them Explore Deep Space

NASA scientists are moving on from typical atomic clocks and using optical light and strontium atoms to build a new future.

BY SOMDATTA MAITY

PUBLISHED 1 DAY AGO

A clock hanging from the side of the building (Representative Cover Image Source: Unsplash | Photo by Pearl Drums )

Over the years, many new amenities have been installed in space, one of them being atomic clocks. These clocks aid the human population in a myriad of ways, like in GPS navigation, internet timing, stock trading, and so on, stated NPR. Though very precise, NASA scientists have set their eyes on greener pastures.

Person Touching Black Two-bell Alarm Clock (Representative Image Source: Pexels | Photo by Stas Knop)

Emily Kwong and Regina G. Barber, in their radio show, claimed that the problem of inaccurate timings did not originate in space. Seafarers first experienced it while voyaging, as many shipwrecks occurred due to clock drift. The problem at hand became so huge that a Board of Longitude was set up. This organization came up with a solution called the marine chronometer. Here, the pendulum did not need to be reset as often.

This clock changed world history, according to the radio hosts, as it allowed the British to voyage long distances and set up their empire with more accuracy than they had previously experienced. Just like the Board of Longitude, NASA scientists are also on the cusp of changing the world, and they also need the power of precise timing, as per hosts. Currently, atomic clocks are being used in space for that purpose, but NASA scientists are pushing for an even better alternative.

Atomic clocks are present in many satellites in space, stated NASA. To figure out the distance of the spacecraft from Earth, navigators release a signal to the spacecraft, which then bounces back to Earth. The time taken by the signal to conduct this two-way journey helps experts in figuring out the distance. Navigators, to know the accurate distance, need clocks with precision and stability. Atomic clocks were believed to be a huge improvement on quartz clocks because of the atom's stability. In the atomic clock, a quartz crystal oscillator is combined with an ensemble of atoms. This arrangement supposedly gives an accurate reading of a unit of time repeatedly.

The atomic clocks are also being used by people on land to figure out their way in the world, stated NPR. The atomic clocks are used by satellites to send time and location data to receivers on Earth. The better these clocks are, the more accurate the positioning of receiving individuals as well as structures.

To understand how atomic clocks work, it is important to figure out how typical clocks function, stated NIST. Typical clocks work due to a marriage of two components: the tool that oscillates and the one that counts these oscillations or patterns. In the old times, it used to be a pendulum, and now it is a quartz crystal. However, no two pendulums, as well as quartz crystals, produce the same beats over a long course of time. This implies that the measurement of one second will not always be the same.

Atoms, though, are always in sync. There are no manufactured parts, so there is no fear of them wearing out. Hence, they will always give the same readings in every piece in which they are incorporated. To have stable atoms, they must be immersed in light of a special frequency.

However, as the current situation stands, the atomic clocks are also prone to mistakes, according to NPR. As per the hosts, these clocks drift by ten nanoseconds every day, which in the grand scheme of things does accumulate to a lot. As Kwong claims, "Even an error of a microsecond in space could lead to an error of 300 meters on the ground."

To account for this error, the GPS satellite clocks are updated daily by scientists on the ground. In order to make the system even more error-free, NASA has for years been trying to develop a clock capable of "autonomous navigation," according to hosts. This implies that they will be able to operate without any updates and will also be more precise. The answer to these efforts could be the Spaceflight Compatible Optical Atomic Strontium Ion Clock (OASIC). This clock would be better than other atomic clocks, according to physicists, because it uses optical light instead of microwaves. The former, because of its higher frequency, provides more stability and accuracy.

The hosts further share that these clocks will use strontium atoms in the clocks, which will make them more stable. Strontium, being a "strict conductor," will only get excited by a particular frequency and would not get 'drifted' by anything else. Holly Leopardi, a physicist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, hopes that in the future, there will be an OASIC clock system in space. She hopes that the 17th or 18th levels of precision brought by the system will help in solving many problems of fundamental physics.

The changing frequencies of the clock would shed more light on the changes on Earth, as well as gravitational fields in space, according to experts. As per the plan, a prototype for this kind of clock should be ready by the fall of 2025. Leopardi's personal wish is that she could see them installed in space in the coming six years and get the ball rolling on solving the massive questions.