America's Secretive X-37B Space Plane Will Test a Quantum Alternative to GPS for the US Space Force (space.com) 22
The mysterious X-37B space-plane — the U.S. military's orbital test vehicle — "serves partly as a platform for cutting-edge experiments," writes Space.com
And "one of these experiments is a potential alternative to GPS that makes use of quantum science as a tool for navigation: a quantum inertial sensor." This technology could revolutionize how spacecraft, airplanes, ships and submarines navigate in environments where GPS is unavailable or compromised. In space, especially beyond Earth's orbit, GPS signals become unreliable or simply vanish. The same applies underwater, where submarines cannot access GPS at all. And even on Earth, GPS signals can be jammed (blocked), spoofed (making a GPS receiver think it is in a different location) or disabled — for instance, during a conflict... Traditional inertial navigation systems, which use accelerometers and gyroscopes to measure a vehicle's acceleration and rotation, do provide independent navigation, as they can estimate position by tracking how the vehicle moves over time... Eventually though, without visual cues, small errors will accumulate and you will entirely lose your positioning...
At very low temperatures, atoms obey the rules of quantum mechanics: they behave like waves and can exist in multiple states simultaneously — two properties that lie at the heart of quantum inertial sensors. The quantum inertial sensor aboard the X-37B uses a technique called atom interferometry, where atoms are cooled to the temperature of near absolute zero, so they behave like waves. Using fine-tuned lasers, each atom is split into what's called a superposition state, similar to Schrödinger's cat, so that it simultaneously travels along two paths, which are then recombined.
Since the atom behaves like a wave in quantum mechanics, these two paths interfere with each other, creating a pattern similar to overlapping ripples on water. Encoded in this pattern is detailed information about how the atom's environment has affected its journey. In particular, the tiniest shifts in motion, like sensor rotations or accelerations, leave detectable marks on these atomic "waves". Compared to classical inertial navigation systems, quantum sensors offer orders of magnitude greater sensitivity. Because atoms are identical and do not change, unlike mechanical components or electronics, they are far less prone to drift or bias. The result is long duration and high accuracy navigation without the need for external references.
The upcoming X-37B mission will be the first time this level of quantum inertial navigation is tested in space.
The article points out that a quantum navigation system could be crucial "for future space exploration, such as to the Moon, Mars or even deep space," where autonomy is key and when signals from Earth are unavailable.
"While quantum computing and quantum communication often steal headlines, systems like quantum clocks and quantum sensors are likely to be the first to see widespread use."
And "one of these experiments is a potential alternative to GPS that makes use of quantum science as a tool for navigation: a quantum inertial sensor." This technology could revolutionize how spacecraft, airplanes, ships and submarines navigate in environments where GPS is unavailable or compromised. In space, especially beyond Earth's orbit, GPS signals become unreliable or simply vanish. The same applies underwater, where submarines cannot access GPS at all. And even on Earth, GPS signals can be jammed (blocked), spoofed (making a GPS receiver think it is in a different location) or disabled — for instance, during a conflict... Traditional inertial navigation systems, which use accelerometers and gyroscopes to measure a vehicle's acceleration and rotation, do provide independent navigation, as they can estimate position by tracking how the vehicle moves over time... Eventually though, without visual cues, small errors will accumulate and you will entirely lose your positioning...
At very low temperatures, atoms obey the rules of quantum mechanics: they behave like waves and can exist in multiple states simultaneously — two properties that lie at the heart of quantum inertial sensors. The quantum inertial sensor aboard the X-37B uses a technique called atom interferometry, where atoms are cooled to the temperature of near absolute zero, so they behave like waves. Using fine-tuned lasers, each atom is split into what's called a superposition state, similar to Schrödinger's cat, so that it simultaneously travels along two paths, which are then recombined.
Since the atom behaves like a wave in quantum mechanics, these two paths interfere with each other, creating a pattern similar to overlapping ripples on water. Encoded in this pattern is detailed information about how the atom's environment has affected its journey. In particular, the tiniest shifts in motion, like sensor rotations or accelerations, leave detectable marks on these atomic "waves". Compared to classical inertial navigation systems, quantum sensors offer orders of magnitude greater sensitivity. Because atoms are identical and do not change, unlike mechanical components or electronics, they are far less prone to drift or bias. The result is long duration and high accuracy navigation without the need for external references.
The upcoming X-37B mission will be the first time this level of quantum inertial navigation is tested in space.
The article points out that a quantum navigation system could be crucial "for future space exploration, such as to the Moon, Mars or even deep space," where autonomy is key and when signals from Earth are unavailable.
"While quantum computing and quantum communication often steal headlines, systems like quantum clocks and quantum sensors are likely to be the first to see widespread use."
Forgot some. (Score:5, Insightful)
"This technology could revolutionize how spacecraft, airplanes, ships and submarines navigate in environments where GPS is unavailable or compromised. "
And drones, torpedoes and missiles.
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If it's too expensive, it might not be used on the missiles/drones and torpedoes themselves.
But the ships and airplanes and submarines and zakus that carry the missiles etc.. will
Re: Forgot some. (Score:2)
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I wonder how much that weighs?
Re: Forgot some. (Score:2)
Less than a bomb?
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Why do you only ask questions and never say what you are thinking?
To answer my own question: I'm pretty sure a fighter jet is optimized for weight to whatever extent possible and adding the weight of a refrigerator that cools to nearly absolute zero would
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The nice thing about this is that you don't need it in every device. There are alternate systems you can use to distribute location information within close proximity.
For example, you could load an AWACS with this, and the AWACS can compute the location of all the planes under its control and transmit to them their location information. It'
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The military budget isn't completely unlimited. Arguably if an opponent can convince us to shoot down their $500 drones with $1m missiles, they've already won.
And printing money only works up to a point. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
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Yeah, gotta love the "modern monetary theory" of continue to print money. Can you imagine if inflation didn't steal out future, hollow out our savings, spending power, and doom our children to wage slavery?
We might buy land, and housing, the one thing the rich seem to want in great abundance. It's almost like fiat currency is a trick. You can print more money, mine more gold, even, but you can make more land.
Reminds me of how the Native Americans who were unfamiliar with European legal traditions, were tric
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Drones yes, Torpedos no, and missiles somewhere in between. Torpedos and missiles are perfectly covered by inertial system for most use cases. It's the ultra long range missiles (like ICBMs) which struggle with traditional navigation systems. Currently we have no problem hitting targets with great precision lobbing missiles between countries using inertial navigation only. Look to Israel and Iran and reflect on the fact that GPS is already massively compromised in the area there. Likewise for Russia, there'
Re: Naturally (Score:2)
Like Q-CTRL (Score:2)
Big Bang Theory (Score:1)