Downloads
Astronaut Jessica Meir Assists With Hardware Updates for NASA’s Cold Atom Lab
JPEG (4.91 MB)
Description
NASA astronaut Jessica Meir inspects optical fibers while installing hardware updates to the agency’s Cold Atom Lab, or CAL, aboard the International Space Station on May 8, 2026.
About the size of a minifridge and operated from Earth, CAL chills atoms to temperatures below minus 459 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 273.15 degrees Celsius), so close to absolute zero that they form a large quantum object called a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) — a fifth state of matter distinct from solids, liquids, gases, and plasma. In a BEC, scientists can observe the quantum properties of atoms at a scale visible to the naked eye. For instance, atoms and particles sometimes behave like solid objects and sometimes behave like waves, a quantum property called “wave-particle duality.”
Managed by Caltech in Pasadena, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory designed, built, and operates Cold Atom Lab, which is sponsored by the Biological and Physical Sciences (BPS) division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate at the agency’s headquarters in Washington. The BPS division pioneers scientific discovery and enables exploration by using space environments to conduct investigations that are not possible on Earth. Studying biological and physical phenomena under extreme conditions allows researchers to advance the fundamental scientific knowledge required to go farther and stay longer in space, while also benefiting life on Earth.
To learn more about Cold Atom Lab, visit:
coldatomlab.jpl.nasa.gov/
Keep ExploringDiscover More Topics From Photojournal
Photojournal
Search Photojournal
Photojournal’s Latest Content
Feedback
Hence then, the article about astronaut jessica meir assists with hardware updates for nasa s cold atom lab was published today ( ) and is available on NASA ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Astronaut Jessica Meir Assists With Hardware Updates for NASA’s Cold Atom Lab )
Also on site :
- World Cup could deliver £7.6bn boost to UK economy – but ‘sickies’ may cost billions in lost productivity
- Trump says ‘hell will rain down’ if Iran gets nuclear weapons
- Australia warns El Nino weather pattern set to be strongest in decades