NASA To Test New Atomic Clock 79
edesio writes "Many satellites and spacecraft require accurate timing signals to ensure the proper operation of scientific instruments. In the case of GPS satellites, accurate timing is essential, otherwise anything relying on GPS signals to navigate could be misdirected. The third technology demonstration planned by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is the Deep Space Atomic Clock. The DSAC team plans to develop a small, low-mass atomic clock based on mercury-ion trap technology and demonstrate it in space."
about time... (Score:5, Interesting)
Having once worked on GPS Satellite's clocking system, I was surprised that the AF was so against usage of atomic clocks phased-locked to crystals for accurate timing. Maybe the latest news about Galileo using atomic clock changed their mind?
Re:Could become the final nail in Einstein's relat (Score:1, Interesting)
It's my own site, I pointed to....
Einstein's theory stands or falls with the speed of light being constant. Since that depends on the properties of the medium, apparantly these are pretty constant in the vicinity of the planet, which is why the theory gives you the correct numbers in 99 out of 100 cases. You'd expect anomalies further out in space, and that is exactly what you see. Take the Pioneer anomaly, for example. That also only gives slight deviations of what is supposed to happen now the probes are very far out in space.
However, the root of the error is very obvious. Either matter is some kind of EM wave, as QM theory and the wave-particle duality principle says, and is therefore the result of the EM fields, or matter (charge carriers) is the cause for the EM fields to exist. And you simple can't have it both ways at the same time. It's one or the other.
Re:Could become the final nail in Einstein's relat (Score:1, Interesting)
Based on the relativity theory though, humans are pretty much earthbound, Mars at best. 1 light year = guess what?
To achieve anything significant in the universe, it's pretty obvious it needs to be broken.
All of our theories, laws and measurements are earth based and earth bound.
Now Einstein's theory is probably 100% on planet earth in our current physics model, but I'ma laugh if you say it applies to a place in space thousands of light years away. It very well may, but neither you nor I can prove that, and pixelated images from a space telescope aren't going to reverse that chain of thinking.
Also Einstein wasn't aware of the physics picture we have going on right now with quantum mechanics and subatomic particles.
I think the goal is to ultimately evolve our physics model to compensate for new discoveries and hopefully utilize them.
Also, in regards to not knowing what your talking about...
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18524911.600-13-things-that-do-not-make-sense.html [newscientist.com]
there's some food for thought in regards to shit nobody knows what they're talking about... including... YOU!
Lastly, there's a more than a few links on this from various places...
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/would-einsteins-theory-of-relativity-be-proved-false/187145-11.html [in.com]
It's all speculation at this point, I'm certainly not saying it's going to be broken by a long shot, but as I stated at the top, it needs to be to coincide with all those sci-fi movies and keeping an open mind never hurt anyone.
I'd take a one size fits all cure for cancer before this shit though.