A new satellite instrument from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is designed to capture minute shifts in gravity. The Quantum Gravity Gradiometer Pathfinder (QGGPf) packs a physics lab into a small, carry-on-sized device that weighs just 275 pounds.
The QGGPf works by chilling two clouds of rubidium atoms to near absolute zero, creating conditions where the atoms behave like overlapping waves. As the satellite orbits Earth, the atom clouds “fall” within the chamber, and if one cloud accelerates slightly faster than the other, the instrument records a stronger local pull.
This technology could improve current gravity measuring missions, such as GRACE-FO, which rely on paired satellites to chart gravity changes. The QGGPf aims to gather comparable details from a single craft, potentially detecting features 10 times smaller than today’s systems can resolve.
The data collected by the QGGPf would reveal what lies beneath the surface, useful for hydrologists tracking groundwater loss and geophysicists studying ice sheet thinning. NASA hopes that this technology could also be adapted for future missions to the Moon or Mars, where mapping underground ice and rock layers is a top scientific priority.
The test-run launch will serve as a shakedown cruise for several untried technologies, including lasers that steer and measure the atom clouds. If successful, the QGGPf approach could revolutionize gravity measurement, reducing costs and enabling more frequent revisit of study sites.
Source: https://www.zmescience.com/space/how-a-suitcase-sized-nasa-device-could-map-shrinking-aquifers-from-space