Well...wow!
Secretive X37-B space plane to test quantum navigation system — scientists hope it will one day replace GPS
The experimental sensor could be groundbreaking.
La huitième mission du X-37B, la navette mystérieuse des États-Unis, approche. Un envol a été confirmé pour août 2025, avec de nouveaux tests prévus à cette occasion. Un nouvel envol de la navette secrète des États-Unis se prépare. Le X-37B, engin initialement développé par la Nasa, construit par Boeing et récupéré
Plot twist: The secret to better airplane navigation was hiding in Earth's crust all along! 🌍 Airbus & SandboxAQ's toaster-sized quantum device reads our planet's magnetic signatures like a 4.6-billion-year-old GPS system. Unlike GPS, rocks don't get jammed - the first novel navigation breakthrough in 50 years! ✈️
Airbus's Silicon Valley innovation center Acubed and Google spinout SandboxAQ have successfully tested a quantum-sensing navigation device as an alternative to GPS during 150 hours of flights across the continental United States. The toaster-sized MagNav device uses quantum physics to measure unique...
This quantum sensor reads motion in 3D with ultracold atoms—no GPS needed. #QuantumNavigation #BoseEinsteinCondensate #AIinPhysics
https://geekoo.news/quantum-compass-maps-motion-in-3d-using-ultracold-atoms/
#QuantumNavigation could transform how we travel
https://cosmosmagazine.com/news/quantum-navigation-could-transform-how-we-travel/
I feel like I’ve been living under a rock, waking up to #QuantumNavigation being a field now.
Improve navigation accuracy for deep space & undersea exploration , as well as supplement GNSS systems when jammed like durin the recent events in Finnish airspace, by using quantum interferometry? Yes, please!
Vacuum “Tube” Might Replace GPS One Day
GPS and similar satellite navigation systems changed everything. The modern generation is far less likely to have had to fold a service station map or ask someone for directions on the side of the road. But GPS isn't perfect. You need to see the sky, for one thing. For another, an adversary could jam or take down your satellites. Even a natural disaster could temporarily or permanently knock out your access to the satellites.
The people at Sandia National Labs worry about things like that and they want to replace GPS with quantum accelerometers and gyroscopes. The problem: those things take expensive and bulky vacuum systems and lasers. Sandia, however, has had a sealed device about the size of an avocado that weighs about a pound that could possibly do the job. Their goal is to see it work without maintenance for four more years.
This is no ordinary vacuum tube, though. It is made of titanium and sapphire. By itself, the device doesn't do much of anything, but it shows that rubidium can be contained in a sealed chamber with no additional pumping. These quantum sensors aren't anything new, but a tiny self-contained cold-atom sensor can pave the way for putting these sensors in vehicles like ships, aircraft, and ground vehicles. Submarines, which don't usually have a clear shot at the sky without floating an antenna, are also candidates for the new technology.
A navigation system based on this technology uses a laser to cool the subject atoms and then measures their movements. This allows very precise determination of acceleration and rotation which allows for a more precise inertial navigation system.
If you need a refresher on how GPS works, we can explain it. If you think the idea of a module containing rubidium is far-fetched, don't forget you can already get them for precision clock work.
#gpshacks #science #gps #quantumaccelerometer #quantumgps #quantumgyroscope #quantumnavigation #rubidium #sandianationallaboratory
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