REAL LIFE NEWS: CREATING THE COLDEST PLACE IN THE KNOWN UNIVERSE ON THE ISS
by Hazed
Experiments being run on the International Space Station will create the coldest spot in space. NASA’s Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) will start producing ultra-cold atoms, called Bose-Einstein condensates, which are cooled to 10 millionth of one Kelvin above absolute zero.
The experiments are part of a study being carried out in microgravity on quantum mechanics and the fundamental nature of matter.
Quantum weirdness happens at the extreme scales – when things are very small, or very fast, or in this case very cold. The source article explains in detail exactly what happens when something is cooled down to as close to absolute zero as possible.
The CAL is currently being calibrated, and it will start operating properly in September.
