In 1994, the CNES initiated an ambitious Technology and Research Program in preparation of a new space clock development, the PHARAO project (PHARAO: Projet d'Horloge Atomique a̧ Refroidissement d'Atomes en Orbite).
Once "Space Clock (Green)" -- a burst of emerald shades, quicksand-like enveloping a handless clock -- had taken me with a softly wandering beat, I moved on to "Space Clock (Blue)," which mirrored the previous, with the addition of what I can only describe as audible snowflakes, or maybe stars.
It has been designed to use the Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) space technique as an optical link between ground and space clocks.
By combining these data, the discrepancy between the ground and space clocks can be determined, in addition to the range to the satellite.
The Primary Atomic Reference Clock in Space (PARCS) mission is designed to perform certain tests of relativity theory, to study the performance of individual GPS space-vehicle clocks, to study the dynamics of atom motion in microgravity, to advance the state-of-the art for space clocks, and to serve as a pathfinder for precision instruments based on laser cooling of atoms.
Here we present the design and ground testing for a nanosatellite mission that will demonstrate terrestrial-to-space clock synchronization using a pulsed optical link to a low Earth orbiting nanosatellite.
This wooden space ship clock is hand-painted and has a silent tick for peace and quiet come bedtime.
We read on, delighted, & learned that the messenger, a young man by the name of Roy Pook, had to stay awake furing his entire transatlantic flight to make sure that his lap was keeping the space-age clock from being jarred.
By Daniel Lang The New Yorker, May 31 , 1958P. 21 We saw in the Times that a so-called space-age clock, an instrument capable of measuring time to the nearest three hundred-billionth of a second, & is essential to our Army Signal Engineering Laboratories in N.J., was "so delicate that a messenger had to carry it on his lap from London.
The MER and MSL missions have more than a dozen drivers between them, but Paolo is the one with the most space miles clocked up who is still part of the team.
Listen to "Open Spaces," "Wall Clock," "Lavender Twilight," "Girl Through a Rainy Window," and "A Field in Spring Rain" here—alongside the box set's art in advance of the set's release on Dais.
