GPS is a crucial part of many modern devices, from your smartphone, to your car navigation, to airlines. However, the technology isn't perfect, as is most evident when you're in a situation where your signal is blocked. Scientists now have a way around that.
Images courtesy: Imperial College London
Researchers at the Imperial College London have built what they're calling a quantum compass. It's a device that allows for navigation without relying on satellites the way GPS does. Basically, that means it doesn't require a signal to function.
To hear it described the device, shown off recently at the National Quantum Technologies Showcase, is actually closer to the accelerometer in your smartphone. This sensor measures how fast your phone is moving over time, to help out with driving instructions, traffic indicators on Google Maps, and much more. Unfortunately, they tend to have their accuracy lowered over time with no external reference to recalibrate, which is why they're not nearly as accurate as GPS.
The "standalone quantum accelerometer" on the other hand is incredibly accurate, thanks to its use of supercooled atoms. These atoms are chilled to the point where they display quantum behaviour, acting as both particle and wave. The wave properties of an atom as affected by acceleration, so scientists can use this to infer how it's moving through space to an incredible degree.
Though it's technically portable, the device is still too large to actually fit into a gadget like a smartphone. But we don't have to wait for technology to progress enough for that to happen. In the meantime, it'll still be incredibly useful for astronauts.
GPS can't be used in space, because the signals those satellites beam down can only be received on Earth or in low-Earth orbit. Anywhere beyond and the GPS installed onboard a rocket becomes useless. So far, NASA has bypassed this problem by installing ground transmitters looking upward, so unmanned missions to our solar system can be steered.
But when we eventually begin sending manned missions to the outer reaches of our solar system and beyond, the astronauts on board need to know where in space they are. A radio signal from Earth would take hours or even days to make the two-way trip, even travelling at the speed of light. Instead, this quantum compass could accurately judge the location of a spacecraft, which would be incredibly important when we beginning mapping the reaches of deep space.