#Caprice analog radio clock upgrade

Most modern clocks, from wristwatches to those used on satellites, keep time using a quartz crystal oscillator. If you know you can walk about a mile in 20 minutes, then you can calculate the distance to the store.īy sending multiple signals and taking many measurements over time, navigators can calculate a spacecraft’s trajectory: where it is and where it’s headed. The grocery store might be a 30-minute walk from your house. While it may sound complicated, most of us use this concept every day. The time the signal requires to make that two-way journey reveals the spacecraft’s distance from Earth, because the signal travels at a known speed (the speed of light). To determine a spacecraft’s distance from Earth, navigators send a signal to the spacecraft, which then returns it to Earth. Read more: Five Things to Know About NASA’s Deep Space Atomic Clock Why do we use clocks to navigate in space? But what is an atomic clock? How are they used in space navigation, and what makes the Deep Space Atomic Clock different? Read on to get all the answers. Ultimately, this new technology could make spacecraft navigation to distant locations like Mars more autonomous.

#Caprice analog radio clock upgrade

Developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the Deep Space Atomic Clock is a serious upgrade to the satellite-based atomic clocks that, for example, enable the GPS on your phone. The clock is ticking: A technology demonstration that could transform the way humans explore space is nearing its target launch date of June 24, 2019.