A new upgrade to the International Space Station’s (ISS) quantum laboratory is allowing NASA to investigate atomic behavior in greater detail than ever before.
By combining the upgraded “Cold Atom Laboratory” with the microgravity environment of low Earth orbit, scientists are studying the properties of ultracold atoms under conditions that are extremely difficult to recreate on Earth. The goal is to observe how clouds of atoms behave at temperatures approaching absolute zero — around -459.67°F (-273.15°C), the lowest possible temperature, where atoms nearly stop moving.
Ultracold Matter Reveals New Quantum Behaviors
Jason Williams, a project scientist for NASA’s Cold Atom Laboratory at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, explains that matter behaves very differently at such extreme temperatures. Its wave-like properties become dominant, allowing ultracold matter to display unexpected phenomena and enable highly precise measurements of time, gravity, and motion. With the latest upgrade, the laboratory now has even more capabilities to explore these fundamental properties of the universe.
Atoms and their subatomic particles follow the principles of quantum mechanics, meaning their behavior is fundamentally different from what we observe in the everyday, macroscopic world. For instance, quantum theory suggests that particles can exist in multiple locations simultaneously, become connected across enormous distances through quantum entanglement, and behave both like waves and like distinct particles.
However, detecting these unusual effects is extremely challenging.Atoms are incredibly small — even if we enlarged an atom to the size of a golf ball, a person launching it would stand about as tall as the distance from Earth to the Moon. In addition, studying quantum behavior in ordinary environments, such as on Earth, is difficult because factors like heat and gravity can interfere with and disrupt these delicate quantum effects.
To address these challenges, the ISS’s mini-fridge-sized Cold Atom Laboratory uses lasers to cool rubidium and potassium gases to temperatures just above absolute zero. Under these extreme conditions, the atoms form a state of matter called a Bose-Einstein condensate, where large numbers of atoms act together as a single quantum wave.
Microgravity Enables Longer Quantum Observations
This setup allows researchers to study quantum effects on a scale far larger than individual atoms. The microgravity environment allows matter waves to expand and evolve for longer periods with minimal disturbance, something scientists cannot achieve as easily on Earth.
This marks the fourth major upgrade to NASA’s Cold Atom Laboratory since it was installed aboard the ISS in 2018. The latest improvements include a redesigned magnetic trap for holding the atomic cloud, enhanced atom sources, and more advanced measurement capabilities.
The upgraded equipment was sent to the ISS in April 2026 and has since been installed and activated, allowing scientists to begin conducting highly advanced measurements. Beyond supporting new experiments in fundamental physics, these capabilities are helping demonstrate future space-based quantum technologies for precise positioning, navigation, timing, and gravity measurements. In the future, such technologies could help astronauts navigate the Moon without GPS and create highly detailed maps of Earth’s gravitational field.
Ethan Elliott, deputy project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, compared the work to the quantum revolution of the 20th century, which contributed to technologies such as lasers, mobile phones, and MRI scanners. He explained that researchers are now entering a new phase of quantum science by directly controlling large quantum states, with the goal of achieving similar technological breakthroughs through experiments conducted in space.
Read the original article on: livescience
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