FEATURED STORY
FEATURED STORY
FEATURED STORY
The Summer 2022 issue of CuttingEdge (A NASA GSFC periodical dedicated to emerging technologies) features work by Scott Luthcke (61A) and partners on the gravity-measuring Atom Interferometer Gravity Gradiometer (AIGG) in an article entitled "Satellite Geodesy – Innovation Born at Goddard" (pp. 7–9).
The Atom Interferometer Gravity Gradiometer, developed in partnership with the Fremont, California-based AOSense, offers the potential for accurate, direct, real-time measurement of Earth’s gravitational field and its changes over time. Scott Luthcke and Goddard physicist Babak Saif (Code 551) led development of the gravity-measuring technology, which works by pulsing a laser through a cloud of super-cooled atoms. Measuring the laser’s interaction with the atoms creates an interference pattern. Scientists know how the atoms should be-have at a quantum level, so the interference serves as a real-time measurement of gravity’s pull on the atoms.
The NASA Space Geodesy Project hosted seven interns over the summer: two high school students, four undergraduates, and one graduate student. Six interns were partly or completely virtual, one was onsite; These interns worked with different scientists and engineers of the of the Space Geodesy Project over the summer (June - August 2022) on projects related to Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) or Lunar Laser Ranging (LLR).
The laboratory performs broad research, in the areas of Earth time variable and static geopotential and geomagnetic fields, Earth orientation, surface deformation, characterization and change, tides, land ice mass evolution, global and regional sea level, and airborne and spaceborne laser altimetry. The laboratory also supports many NASA missions in fundamental and core capabilities including satellite radar and laser altimetry precise positioning, pointing, ranging, timing, geolocation and calibration and validation. The laboratory is a leader in the design, development, implementation and application of airborne and spaceborne geodetic laser altimeter technology and instruments including NASA’s Land, Vegetation, and Ice Sensor (LVIS) and the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation Lidar (GEDI). The laboratory is the home of the Space Geodesy Project which encompasses the management, development, operation and maintenance of NASA’s Space Geodetic Network that is comprised of the four major space geodetic observing systems: Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI), Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR), Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), and the Doppler Orbitography and Radio-positioning by integrated Satellite (DORIS) system. It is also home to the Crustal Dynamics Data Information System dedicated to the archive and distribution of space geodesy related data sets; as well as the home to GEODYN, NASA’s state-of-the-art geodetic parameter estimation and precision orbit determination system.
General inquiries about the scientific programs at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center may be directed to the Center Office of Communications at 1.301.286.8955.