NASA to launch an atomic clock into space

NASA is ready to launch an atomic clock into space in an effort to improve navigation for probes sent into deep space. The clock will be launched on board a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket and would serve as an improvement over the ones on satellites that provide GPS. It is primarily designed to enable a traveling spacecraft to have a greater degree of autonomy and would help astronomers locate and track the spacecraft with greater precision.

Probes sent far out into space often travel at very high speeds, usually covering hundreds of thousands of miles, or even over a million miles each day. Astronomers send a signal to the probe, which the probe sends back instantly, which in turn is received by the astronomers. The signals sent and received travel at the speed of light and so, by sending continuous, periodic signals to a traveling spacecraft and receiving them; scientists determine the speed, approximate location, and trajectory of a probe hurtling through the vast expanse of space.

However, clocks lose their precision with time, resulting in a small margin of error. But for astronomers directing a space mission and controlling a fast-moving spacecraft, miniature errors, even in microseconds causes difficulties in tracking and guiding a probe. The atomic clock being launched will be accurate to a billionth of a second over several days and weeks. The precision of such a clock would be off by less than a microsecond even after ten years of operation.