NASA’s coolest experiment in the Universe for Quantum Physics

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is working hard on creating some of the coolest temperatures in the universe as part of their experiments.

What’s the coldest place or temperature that you can think of?

Temperatures on a winter day in Antarctica dip as low as -85ºC (-120ºF). On the dark side of the Moon, they go as low as -173ºC (-280ºF).

But inside NASA’s Cold Atom Laboratory on the International Space Station, scientists are creating something even colder.

The Cold Atom Lab (CAL) is the first facility in orbit to produce clouds of “ultracold” atoms, which can reach a fraction of a degree above absolute zero: -273ºC (-459ºF) the absolute coldest temperature that matter can reach. Nothing in nature is known to hit the temperatures achieved in laboratories like CAL, which means the orbiting facility is regularly the coldest known spot in the universe.

NASA’s Cold Atom Laboratory on the International Space Station is regularly the coldest known spot in the universe.

You might be wondering what is it exactly that scientists are doing with such cold temperatures?

Well its a part of Quantum physics experiments to see sub atomic particles behave and interact with each other. Findings as part of these experiments could open new doors to the field of Quantum computing as well.

Quantum physics and computing is more and more popular as a field of study these days – and this is a very positive development. Our current electronic and digital computing abilities are nearing their upper computational limits, and in order for us to make another giant leap like the 1990s internet or 2000’s mobile network, we need to have a significant breakthrough in our ability to process information and compute.

NASA represents that best in us and we need the next generation to dream of the stars and beyond. For when we dream – we create, and that has the potential of making this whole world a better place for everyone.

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If you are a tech enthusiast and like to collaborate feel free to reach out to me.

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