NASA Working Remotely: How Astronauts Upgraded a Complex Experiment in Space

NASA's Cold Atom Laboratory underwent a major hardware upgrade aboard the International Space Station in January 2020. The mission team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California guided astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir through the installation of the new hardware via live video conference. By chilling atom clouds to just above absolute zero, or the coldest temperature matter can reach, Cold Atom Lab enables scientists to directly observe unique atomic behaviors, helping to answer questions about how our world works at the smallest scales. This new hardware will help expand Cold Atom Lab's capabilities.

For more information, visit https://coldatomlab.jpl.nasa.gov

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech, NASA-International Space Station