Nasa wants to create coldest spot in the Universe
- Published
An artist's image of what the cool box could look like
How about this for a brrr-illiant experiment? Nasa is planning to create the coldest spot in the Universe!
A box called the Cold Atom Laboratory is flying to the International Space Station this summer.
When it's there, it will freeze gas atoms to a billionth of a degree above absolute zero.
Absolute zero is -273.15C - it's the temperature that scientists agree is the lowest possible one.
It's more than 100 million times colder than the depths of space!
The Cold Atom Laboratory is due to fly to the International Space Station this summer
The Cold Atom Laboratory contains instruments such as lasers, a vacuum chamber and an electromagnetic "knife".
They'll work together to cool and slow down the gas particles until they barely move.
The pull of gravity means that it's not possible to do this on Earth.
It's hoped the experiment could help with improving technologies, including sensors, computers and atomic clocks.
- Published4 March 2017
- Published1 March 2017
