NASA activates a new atomic clock that paves the way for missions to Mars

The Deep Space atomic clock was launched in June and finally activated officially at the end of August.

In fact, missions to Mars have just come a big step, thanks to the new atomic clock that NASA has activated.

NASA's atomic clock is about to be launched in space for testing.

According to NASA, the clock is an important step to facilitate spacecraft to navigate in deep space, instead of relying on getting directions from the Earth.

The watch is both a reliable timekeeper, small enough to be tested on a spacecraft. The watch is used to measure the distance between objects by calculating how long the signal from one point to another takes.

For deep space missions, atomic clocks must be extremely accurate. A small error could mean the difference between landing on Mars or missing a spacecraft hundreds of thousands of kilometers away.

In Earth tests, the Deep Space atomic clock is displayed to take one second every 10 million years. NASA will check to see if this is true in space.

"The goal of the space experiment is to place the Deep Space atomic clock in the context of a spacecraft working, complete with things that affect stability , " said Todd Ely, the project's lead researcher . and accuracy of the watch and see if it works at a level, we think it will have greater stability than existing space watches'.

Over the next few months, NASA will measure the time keeping the clock down to nanoseconds. The results begin to count down to a day when technology can help astronauts safely navigate themselves to other worlds.