Cold Atom Laboratory
A facility designed to fly aboard the International Space Station, the Cold Atom Laboratory, or CAL, will make use the space station's unique microgravity environment to observe quantum phenomena that would otherwise be undetectable from Earth.
Launch Date
May 21, 2018
Type
InstrumentTarget
Stars and GalaxiesStatus
CurrentA facility designed to fly aboard the International Space Station, the Cold Atom Laboratory, or CAL, will make use the space station's unique microgravity environment to observe quantum phenomena that would otherwise be undetectable from Earth. The laboratory will be available for use by multiple scientific investigators and is designed to be maintained on orbit.
The Cold Atom Laboratory launched successfully and was installed on the International Space Station in May 2018, serves as an experiment in the use of laser-cooled atoms for future quantum sensors.
The Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) consists of two standardized containers that will be installed on the International Space Station. The larger container is called a "quad locker," and the smaller container is called a "single locker." The quad locker contains CAL's physics package, or the compartment where CAL will produce clouds of ultra-cold atoms. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Tyler Winn
About the size of a mini fridge, the Cold Atom Lab Science Instrument (left) contains the Science Module, which cools atoms to nearly absolute zero. The smaller box on the right contains additional hardware.
