The cold environment is crucial for a number of experiments but the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (Nasa) Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) takes this to extreme levels. The laboratory is now heading to the International Space Station (ISS) to study what happens when atoms get really cold.
The main brain behind this project of US space agency is Indian-American scientist Anita Sengupta. From 2012 to 2017 she managed and led the development of the Cold Atom Laboratory, a laser-cooling quantum physics facility for the ISS.
Talking to India Today Education, Anita Sengupta said:
“I led the team from 2012 to 2017, from the original proposal to a few months from launch. One of the few female project managers in a predominantly male-dominated field.”
Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) is expected to be 10 billion times colder than the vacuum of space.
The space laboratory is foreseen to give a major boost to high number of technical formulas including sensors, quantum computers and atomic clocks which are used in spacecraft navigation systems.
“CAL will make it possible to observe these ultra-cold atoms much longer in the micro gravity environment,” said Nasa.
By Lokesh
