{"id":34604,"date":"2020-04-14T15:48:12","date_gmt":"2020-04-14T15:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/04\/14\/the-department-of-defense-wants-a-quantum-space-sensor\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T18:21:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:21:46","slug":"the-department-of-defense-wants-a-quantum-space-sensor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/space\/2020\/04\/14\/the-department-of-defense-wants-a-quantum-space-sensor\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pentagon is looking for a quantum space sensor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A GPS receiver just isn\u2019t going to cut it in deep space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While GPS has a host of applications on Earth \u2014 from enabling credit card transactions to weather forecasting<\/a> \u2014 it is decidedly less useful off planet. After all, GPS was designed to enable navigation around the Earth, not in deep space. Space vehicles operating beyond the reaches of GPS have to rely on other methods for determining their position, navigation and timing, such as inertial measurements or even star tracking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those methods vary in reliability, so the Department of Defense is looking for a more accurate tool \u2014 namely, a quantum space sensor.<\/p>\n\n\n\t