NASAs Cold Atom Lab is a first-of-its-kind physics lab operating in Earth orbit. Strategies are underway for a series of additional upgrades to Cold Atom Lab in the coming years, so the objective group is investigating ways to make these activities more effective. On July 15, astronaut Megan McArthur utilized the AR headset while she changed a piece of hardware inside Cold Atom Lab, enabling the center to produce ultracold potassium atoms in addition to the rubidium atoms that have been utilized given that the facility began running in 2018.
The Cold Atom Lab hardware replacement activity marked the first usage of a mixed reality headset to improve the live interaction in between an astronaut and engineers on Earth; it likewise marked the very first usage of combined reality to repair a science experiment on the station. By making Cold Atom Lab upgradable, team members can add new tools and abilities as their research progresses, so they can look for responses to brand-new concerns and carry out impactful and progressively complicated experiments.
” This repair work activity enables potassium gases to also be studied in Cold Atom Lab, which will enable scientists to carry out lots of brand-new experiments in quantum chemistry and fundamental physics using multi-species gases where the atoms interact with each other in interesting methods at the ultra-low temperature levels only attainable in microgravity,” said Jason Williams, Cold Atom Labs job researcher. “Our goal is for Cold Atom Lab to end up being an evolving science facility so we can quickly construct on our research and deal with the astronauts to include new hardware capabilities without the need to construct and introduce brand-new facilities each action of the way.”
A hardware upgrade on a facility like Cold Atom Lab would typically be done just by somebody intimately knowledgeable about the hardware, since an error during the process could affect Cold Atom Labs ability to operate. McArthur had to work around delicate, securely packed interior parts, including more than a lots electronics cards, a labyrinth of wires and cables, and an orchestra of carefully tuned lasers used to cool atoms down to almost outright absolutely no inside a sealed vacuum chamber while infrared electronic cameras observe them.
Future upgrades to Cold Atom Lab will also include real-time interactions in between astronauts on the station and group members on the ground. Thats why this trial use of combined truth was so motivating to the team.
” A task like this requires a great deal of real-time guidance with a specialist on the ground, and thats where the HoloLens could be extremely useful,” said Jim Kellogg, launch car and spaceport station combination lead for Cold Atom Lab at JPL, which handles the objective.
More About the Mission
Developed and developed at JPL, Cold Atom Lab is sponsored by the Biological and Physical Sciences Division under NASAs Science Mission Directorate.
NASAs Cold Atom Laboratory. Credit: NASA
NASA is checking out whether mixed reality technology might help with repair work and upgrades on the advanced Cold Atom Lab aboard the space station.
NASAs Cold Atom Lab is a first-of-its-kind physics lab operating in Earth orbit. About the size of a mini-fridge, it hosts multiple experiments that check out the fundamental nature of atoms by cooling them down to almost absolute no (the coldest temperature level matter can reach). The ultracold atoms supply a window into the quantum world, where matter shows strange habits that underpin lots of contemporary innovations.
In 2020, throughout her extended stay aboard the spaceport station, NASA astronaut Christina Koch worked with Earth-based mission team members to install upgraded hardware in Cold Atom Lab. Along with including new capabilities to the unique center, the effort proved something else: that such upkeep might be performed without the need to carry the lab back to Earth.
NASAs Cold Atom Lab– a quantum physics facility aboard the International Space Station– hosts multiple experiments that check out the essential nature of atoms by cooling them down to nearly absolute zero (the coldest temperature matter can reach). Previously this year, NASA astronaut Megan McArthur evaluated using a blended reality headset (a Microsoft HoloLens) to assist keep the experiment at the cutting edge.
Plans are underway for a series of extra upgrades to Cold Atom Lab in the coming years, so the objective team is examining methods to make these activities more efficient. Previously this summertime, they successfully evaluated a new tool that might assist with that goal: a Microsoft HoloLens, a mixed reality (also called enhanced truth, or AR) headset. On July 15, astronaut Megan McArthur used the AR headset while she changed a piece of hardware inside Cold Atom Lab, enabling the center to produce ultracold potassium atoms in addition to the rubidium atoms that have actually been utilized because the facility began operating in 2018.
Combined reality headsets such as the HoloLens appear like wraparound sunglasses, and unlike virtual reality headsets (which produce a completely virtual setting), the HoloLens has transparent lenses that mix the virtual and real worlds together. This permitted McArthur to see the location around her, and a little forward-facing camera on the headset permitted members of the Cold Atom Lab team, viewing on big screens in the Earth Orbiting Missions Operations Center at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, to see whatever she was taking a look at. By contrast, during the 2020 activity with Christina Koch, the team could see a live video feed just from a repaired cam placed behind or above the astronaut, leaving their view of the hardware primarily obscured.
McArthur could likewise see virtual graphic annotations, such as text and arrows, put in her field of view by the Cold Atom Lab operations team. For example, as she took a look at a series of cables, the mission team could put an arrow in her field of vision, indicating the specific cable television she needed to unplug. Even if she were to move her head away and back again, the arrow would remain pointing at the very same cable television area.
NASA Astronaut Megan McArthur puts on a Microsoft HoloLens, a combined reality (or augmented truth) headset, which allows her to see both the spacearound her along with digital displays in her field of vision. Credit: NASA
Virtual truth headsets have been used for various applications aboard the spaceport station, and combined reality has been utilized in a few cases. However typically, the objective of these activities is to make it easier for an astronaut to perform a task alone. The Cold Atom Lab hardware replacement activity marked the first use of a mixed reality headset to improve the live interaction in between an astronaut and engineers on Earth; it also marked the very first usage of mixed truth to fix a science experiment on the station. Preparation for the activity took six months, with partnership in between NASAs JPL, Johnson Space Center in Houston, and Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
” Cold Atom Lab is purchasing using this technology on the spaceport station not just because its appealing, however due to the fact that it could provide extra abilities for these complicated tasks that we count on astronauts to carry out,” stated Kamal Oudrhiri, Cold Atom Labs job manager at JPL. “This activity was an ideal demonstration of how Cold Atom Lab and quantum science can benefit from combined truth innovation.”
Quantum Mechanics
Quantum science has actually exposed lots of non-intuitive functions of the real world, such as the fact that atoms act like both strong things and waves. A few of these discoveries resulted in the advancement of innovations that numerous of us use everyday, such as transitors and microchips.
Cold Atom Lab is the very first quantum science facility in Earth orbit. Cooling the atoms causes them to move more slowly, making them much easier to study. And ultracold atoms can also form a fifth state of matter, called a Bose-Einstein condensate, which displays usually tiny quantum features at a macroscopic scale.
In the microgravity environment, researchers can make atoms chillier and study them for longer than on Earth. This opens up opportunities of research study that arent available on the ground. By making Cold Atom Lab upgradable, staff member can add new tools and capabilities as their research progresses, so they can seek answers to new concerns and perform progressively complicated and impactful experiments.