CAL
A facility aboard the International Space Station, the Cold Atom Laboratory, will make use of the space station's microgravity environment to study quantum phenomena in ways that aren’t possible on Earth.
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Launch Date
May 21, 2018
Type
InstrumentTarget
Stars and GalaxiesStatus
CurrentThe Cold Atom Laboratory launched to the International Space Station in March 2018 and was installed a few months later. The facility uses lasers to cool atoms down to less than a degree above absolute zero. When clouds of atoms reach these ultracold temperatures they may form a fifth state of matter called a Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC). Distinct from gasses, liquids, solids and plasmas, a BEC makes the quantum properties of atoms macroscopic, so scientists can more easily observe them. Cold Atom Lab produced the first BECs in Earth orbit.
Multiple groups are conducting experiments inside Cold Atom Lab, which is operated completely remotely from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The primary goal of Cold Atom Lab is to utilize the microgravity environment to open up new avenues of fundamental research into the nature of atoms and quantum science. Many technologies that impact our everyday lives are based on quantum phenomena, including transistors and microchips.
Major results:
The Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) consists of two standardized containers that will be installed on the International Space Station. The larger container is called a "quad locker," and the smaller container is called a "single locker." The quad locker contains CAL's physics package, or the compartment where CAL will produce clouds of ultra-cold atoms. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Tyler Winn
About the size of a mini fridge, the Cold Atom Lab Science Instrument (left) contains the Science Module, which cools atoms to nearly absolute zero. The smaller box on the right contains additional hardware.
