An Antares skyrocket establish from Virginia before sunrise this cockcrow and is on its way to the International Space Station . Its 7,400 pounds of shipment let in an experimentation that will cool down atoms to just about infrangible zero — cold than the vacuum of blank itself .
The Cold Atom Laboratory ( CAL ) is set to create Bose - Einstein condensates on board the ISS . But what ’s a Bose - Einstein condensation ? And why make it in space ?
“ Essentially , it ’s going to allow us to do different variety of thing than we ’d be able to do on Earth , ” Gretchen Campbell , carbon monoxide gas - theatre director of the University of Maryland ’s Joint Quantum Institute , secernate Gizmodo .
Bose - Einstein condensates are collections of sure atoms ( like rubidium , for lesson ) held motionless by laser , which chill them to temperatures just above right-down zero . These systems amplify the brain - flabbergast core of quantum machinist to nearly macroscopical scales , have them easier to study . scientist have used Bose - Einstein condensates to create entirely newstates of matter , quantum entanglethousands of corpuscle , and evenmodel the Big Bang .
But as is the pillowcase with most virtually macroscopic collections of atoms , Bose - Einstein condensates feel the effects of soberness . That means that they fall down when you ferment off the lasers that freeze them in topographic point on Earth . On add-in the ISS where there ’s only microgravity , scientists can perform these experiments and observe the Bose - Einstein condensates for recollective .
Since these systems magnify the personal effects of quantum mechanics to larger scale leaf , they could be used to gain insights about unrelated system . Perhaps the system could provide perceptivity into the nature of dark energy , the deep force accelerating the enlargement of the universe that seems to account for two - thirds of the universe ’s energy , accord to a NASAfact flat solid .
The Antares rocket should arrive at the ISS on Thursday , reportsSpace.com . On top of resupplying the space station , it also carries aplant - emergence experimentand somecubesats , as well as other research equipment .
Space . It ’s good for hooey . Said Campbell : “ Whenever you have novel capabilities , that will top to raw and exciting physics . ”
NASAPhysicsScience
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