NASA’s Cold Atom Lab: The Coolest Experiment in the Universe

NASA’s Cold Atom Lab will produce clouds of ultra-cold atoms aboard the International Space Station to perform quantum physics experiments in microgravity. Atoms are chilled to about one 10 billionth of a degree above Absolute Zero, or about 10 billion times colder than the average temperature of deep space. At those temperatures, atoms behave in strange ways, allowing scientists to investigate the fundamental nature of matter. For more info about the Cold Atom Lab, visit https://coldatomlab.jpl.nasa.gov/

The clouds of ultra-cold atoms the Cold Atom Lab produces are called Bose-Einstein Condensates (BECs), a bizarre state of matter in which atoms exhibit quantum behavior at macroscopic a scale you can see. BECs make it possible for researchers to probe the fundamental nature of matter. Hundreds of BEC experiments exist on Earth, but on the International Space Station, free from the pull of gravity, scientists will be able to observe BECs for much longer than what is possible on Earth, and reach even colder temperatures than what is typically achieved on the ground. The Cold Atom Lab will move scientists another step closer to solving some of the biggest mysteries in the universe, such as understanding the nature of dark matter and dark energy and solving the disagreement between quantum mechanics and the theory of gravity.

Research done on the Cold Atom Lab can also have practical applications, such as making improvements to atomic clock technologies, which are used in spacecraft navigation, as well as the GPS satellites that provide navigation information to devices like smartphones. Cold Atom Lab research could also lead to improvements to quantum sensors used for remote sensing on spacecraft. These sensors can be used for a variety of applications, including monitoring Earth’s changing climate and remotely studying the internal makeup of planets and asteroids.