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By USH
Quantum computing, a transformative field leveraging quantum mechanics, has the potential to solve complex problems far beyond the reach of classical computers. While it promises significant advancements, it also poses risks, such as breaking cryptographic codes, threatening global data security.
For example: At NASA's Quantum Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (QuAIL), experiments revealed unprecedented computational power and successfully solved the unsolvable problem. However, the quantum computer began generating independent and unconventional outputs, leading to speculation that it could think for itself or even connect with extraterrestrial intelligence. Concerned about the implications, NASA halted its quantum computing project in 2023, though some believe the research continued in secret.
Separately, researchers have hypothesized that advanced extraterrestrial civilizations might use black holes as quantum computers for computation and communication. highlighting the mysterious potential of these quantum systems to explore phenomena beyond Earthly understanding.
A fictional scenario (watch video below) illustrates the dangers of quantum technology spiraling out of control:
A mysterious data transfer lights up NSA monitors at 3 AM. Within hours, hospital records flash across Times Square billboards. Dating app messages spill onto every screen in the city.
Bank accounts vanish. Traffic lights freeze. Autonomous vehicles crash through shopping malls. Intelligence agencies scramble as decades of encrypted messages suddenly unlock. Someone or something has broken the unbreakable - the mathematical foundations that protect everything from banking passwords to nuclear launch codes.
The quantum apocalypse arrives years ahead of schedule. But as chaos spreads, patterns start to surface. The timing seems too perfect, the targets too precise.
Deep beneath the Pentagon, analysts notice something strange: some messages were decrypted months ago. The chaos isn't random - it's cover for something bigger.
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By NASA
Creating a golden streak in the night sky, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission One lander soars upward after liftoff from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Wednesday, Jan. 15, as part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative. The Blue Ghost lander will carry 10 NASA science and technology instruments to the lunar surface to further understand the Moon and help prepare for future human missions.Credit: NASA/Frank Michaux A suite of NASA scientific investigations and technology demonstrations is on its way to our nearest celestial neighbor aboard a commercial spacecraft, where they will provide insights into the Moon’s environment and test technologies to support future astronauts landing safely on the lunar surface under the agency’s Artemis campaign.
Carrying science and tech on Firefly Aerospace’s first CLPS or Commercial Lunar Payload Services flight for NASA, Blue Ghost Mission 1 launched at 1:11 a.m. EST aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The company is targeting a lunar landing on Sunday, March 2.
“This mission embodies the bold spirit of NASA’s Artemis campaign – a campaign driven by scientific exploration and discovery,” said NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy. “Each flight we’re part of is vital step in the larger blueprint to establish a responsible, sustained human presence at the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Each scientific instrument and technology demonstration brings us closer to realizing our vision. Congratulations to the NASA, Firefly, and SpaceX teams on this successful launch.”
Once on the Moon, NASA will test and demonstrate lunar drilling technology, regolith (lunar rocks and soil) sample collection capabilities, global navigation satellite system abilities, radiation tolerant computing, and lunar dust mitigation methods. The data captured could also benefit humans on Earth by providing insights into how space weather and other cosmic forces impact our home planet.
“NASA leads the world in space exploration, and American companies are a critical part of bringing humanity back to the Moon,” said Nicola Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington. “We learned many lessons during the Apollo Era which informed the technological and science demonstrations aboard Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 – ensuring the safety and health of our future science instruments, spacecraft, and, most importantly, our astronauts on the lunar surface. I am excited to see the incredible science and technological data Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 will deliver in the days to come.”
As part of NASA’s modern lunar exploration activities, CLPS deliveries to the Moon will help humanity better understand planetary processes and evolution, search for water and other resources, and support long-term, sustainable human exploration of the Moon in preparation for the first human mission to Mars.
There are 10 NASA payloads flying on this flight:
Lunar Instrumentation for Subsurface Thermal Exploration with Rapidity (LISTER) will characterize heat flow from the interior of the Moon by measuring the thermal gradient and conductivity of the lunar subsurface. It will take several measurements to about a 10-foot final depth using pneumatic drilling technology with a custom heat flow needle instrument at its tip. Lead organization: Texas Tech University Lunar PlanetVac (LPV) is designed to collect regolith samples from the lunar surface using a burst of compressed gas to drive the regolith into a sample chamber for collection and analysis by various instruments. Additional instrumentation will then transmit the results back to Earth. Lead organization: Honeybee Robotics Next Generation Lunar Retroreflector (NGLR) serves as a target for lasers on Earth to precisely measure the distance between Earth and the Moon. The retroreflector that will fly on this mission could also collect data to understand various aspects of the lunar interior and address fundamental physics questions. Lead organization: University of Maryland Regolith Adherence Characterization (RAC) will determine how lunar regolith sticks to a range of materials exposed to the Moon’s environment throughout the lunar day. The RAC instrument will measure accumulation rates of lunar regolith on the surfaces of several materials including solar cells, optical systems, coatings, and sensors through imaging to determine their ability to repel or shed lunar dust. The data captured will allow the industry to test, improve, and protect spacecraft, spacesuits, and habitats from abrasive regolith. Lead organization: Aegis Aerospace Radiation Tolerant Computer (RadPC) will demonstrate a computer that can recover from faults caused by ionizing radiation. Several RadPC prototypes have been tested aboard the International Space Station and Earth-orbiting satellites, but now will demonstrate the computer’s ability to withstand space radiation as it passes through Earth’s radiation belts, while in transit to the Moon, and on the lunar surface. Lead organization: Montana State University Electrodynamic Dust Shield (EDS) is an active dust mitigation technology that uses electric fields to move and prevent hazardous lunar dust accumulation on surfaces. The EDS technology is designed to lift, transport, and remove particles from surfaces with no moving parts. Multiple tests will demonstrate the feasibility of the self-cleaning glasses and thermal radiator surfaces on the Moon. In the event the surfaces do not receive dust during landing, EDS has the capability to re-dust itself using the same technology. Lead organization: NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Lunar Environment heliospheric X-ray Imager (LEXI) will capture a series of X-ray images to study the interaction of solar wind and the Earth’s magnetic field that drives geomagnetic disturbances and storms. Deployed and operated on the lunar surface, this instrument will provide the first global images showing the edge of Earth’s magnetic field for critical insights into how space weather and other cosmic forces surrounding our planet impact it. Lead organizations: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Boston University, and Johns Hopkins University Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder (LMS) will characterize the structure and composition of the Moon’s mantle by measuring electric and magnetic fields. This investigation will help determine the Moon’s temperature structure and thermal evolution to understand how the Moon has cooled and chemically differentiated since it formed. Lead organization: Southwest Research Institute Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE) will demonstrate the possibility of acquiring and tracking signals from Global Navigation Satellite System constellations, specifically GPS and Galileo, during transit to the Moon, during lunar orbit, and on the lunar surface. If successful, LuGRE will be the first pathfinder for future lunar spacecraft to use existing Earth-based navigation constellations to autonomously and accurately estimate their position, velocity, and time. Lead organizations: NASA Goddard, Italian Space Agency Stereo Camera for Lunar Plume-Surface Studies (SCALPSS) will use stereo imaging photogrammetry to capture the impact of rocket plume on lunar regolith as the lander descends on the Moon’s surface. The high-resolution stereo images will aid in creating models to predict lunar regolith erosion, which is an important task as bigger, heavier payloads are delivered to the Moon in close proximity to each other. This instrument also flew on Intuitive Machine’s first CLPS delivery. Lead organization: NASA’s Langley Research Center “With 10 NASA science and technology instruments launching to the Moon, this is the largest CLPS delivery to date, and we are proud of the teams that have gotten us to this point,” said Chris Culbert, program manager for the Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “We will follow this latest CLPS delivery with more in 2025 and later years. American innovation and interest to the Moon continues to grow, and NASA has already awarded 11 CLPS deliveries and plans to continue to select two more flights per year.”
Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander is targeted to land near a volcanic feature called Mons Latreille within Mare Crisium, a more than 300-mile-wide basin located in the northeast quadrant of the Moon’s near side. The NASA science on this flight will gather valuable scientific data studying Earth’s nearest neighbor and helping pave the way for the first Artemis astronauts to explore the lunar surface later this decade.
Learn more about NASA’s CLPS initiative at:
https://www.nasa.gov/clps
-end-
Amber Jacobson / Karen Fox
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
amber.c.jacobson@nasa.gov / karen.c.fox@nasa.gov
Natalia Riusech / Nilufar Ramji
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
nataila.s.riusech@nasa.gov / nilufar.ramji@nasa.gov
Antonia Jaramillo
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
321-501-8425
antonia.jaramillobotero@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Jan 15, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) Artemis Earth's Moon Johnson Space Center Kennedy Space Center Lunar Science Science & Research Science Mission Directorate View the full article
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By NASA
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Artist concept highlighting the novel approach proposed by the 2025 NIAC awarded selection of SUPREME-QG: Space-borne Ultra-Precise Measurement of the Equivalence Principle Signature of Quantum GravityNASA/Selim Shahriar Selim Shahriar
Northwestern University, Evanston
Progress in physics has largely been driven by the development and verification of new theories that unify different fundamental forces of nature. For example, Maxwell revolutionized physics with his unified theory of electricity and magnetism, and the Standard Model of particle physics provides a consistent description of all fundamental forces (electromagnetic, strong, and weak) except for gravity. The major barrier to completing the quest for unification is that General Relativity (GR), the current theory of gravity, cannot be reconciled with QM. Theories of Quantum Gravity (TQG), which are yet untested, prescribe modifications of both GR and QM in a manner that makes them consistent with each other. Tests of TQG represent arguably the greatest challenge facing our understanding of the Universe. The most promising way to test TQG is to search for violation of the Equivalence Principle (EP), a fundamental tenet of GR which states that all objects experience the same acceleration in a gravitational field. Violation of EP is characterized by a nonzero Eotvos parameter, Eta, defined as the ratio of the relative acceleration to the mean acceleration experienced by two objects with different inertial masses in a gravitational field. EP violations at the level of Eta < 10^(-18) arise in many versions of TQG (e.g., string theory). The most precise test of the EP to date has been carried out under the space-borne MICROSCOPE experiment employing classical accelerometers, constraining the value of Eta to <1.5×10^(-15). We propose to investigate the use of a radically new method that leverages quantum entanglement to test the EP with extreme precision, at the level of Eta ~ 10^(-20), using a space-borne platform. This method is described in a recent paper by us (PRD 108, 024011, ’23). It makes use of simultaneous Schroedinger Cat (SC) state atom interferometers (AIs) with two isotopes of Rb. Consisting of N=10^6 atoms, the SC state, which is a maximally entangled quantum state generated via spin-squeezing of cold atoms in an optical cavity, acts as a single particle, in a superposition of two collective states, enhancing the sensitivity by a factor of ~root(N)=10^3. Such large-N SC states are difficult to create and have not been observed yet, let alone leveraged for precision metrology. In another recent paper, we described a novel protocol, namely the generalized echo squeezing protocol (GESP), to overcome the challenges of creating such a state (PRA 107, 032610, ’23). We will demonstrate the functionality of this method in a testbed to enable a follow-on space-borne mission capable of testing the EP at the level of Eta ~ 10^(-20). If EP violation is observed, the version of TQG that agrees most closely with the result would form the foundation for a complete theory governing the universe, including its birth: the Big Bang. A null result would force physicists to conceive an entirely new approach to addressing the irreconcilability of GR and QM, fundamentally altering the course of theoretical physics. Either outcome would represent one of the greatest developments in our quest for understanding nature. The SC-state AI (SCAI), also holds the promise of revolutionary improvements in the precision of gravitational cartography and inertial navigation, when configured for simultaneous accelerometry and rotation sensing. The sensitivity of such a sensor, for one second averaging time, would be ~0.9 femto-g for accelerometry, and ~0.5 pico-degree/hour for rotation sensing. This would represent an improvement by a factor of ~10^5 over the best conventional accelerometer, and a factor of ~10^4 over the best conventional gyroscopes. As such, the SCAI would find widespread usage in defense as well as non-defense sectors, including deep-space exploration, for inertial navigation. A space-borne SCAI would be able to carry out gravitational cartography with a resolution far greater than that achieved using the GRACE-FO satellites.
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Last Updated Jan 10, 2025 EditorLoura Hall Related Terms
NIAC Studies NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Program Keep Exploring Discover More NIAC Topics
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By NASA
1 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
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The Canadarm2 removes materials science samples from the Kibo laboratory module's airlock. NASA The Materials ISS Experiment Flight Facility mounted on the outside of the International Space Station allows researchers to test the performance and durability of materials and devices. This is done by exposing items of interest to everything that makes the space environment harsh, including radiation, highly reactive atomic oxygen, microgravity, and extreme temperatures.
Currently, one suite on the platform holds MISSE-20-Commercial, an investigation conducting 12 experiments from different research teams. Among MISSE-20-Commercial is the Space Entanglement and Annealing Quantum Experiment (SEAQUE) which tests two technologies that could advance the field of quantum communications. The first technology is a novel method to transmit quantum data. This method could make way for a scalable quantum information network and provide the foundation of quantum cloud computing, a technology that holds the promise of operating millions of times faster than conventional computers. SEAQUE will also validate technology to “self-heal” its sensitive detectors against radiation damage using laser annealing, prolonging the life of these quantum tools in a space environment.
Diana Garcia
International Space Station Research Communications Team
Johnson Space Center
Keep Exploring Discover More Topics
Benefits to Humanity
Humans In Space
International Space Station
Space Station Research and Technology
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By European Space Agency
Marking a major milestone in the preparation of Copernicus Sentinel-1C for its scheduled 3 December liftoff, experts have completed the critical and hazardous process of fuelling the satellite.
Once in orbit, Sentinel-1C will extend the Sentinel-1 mission’s legacy, delivering radar imagery to monitor Earth’s changing environment to support a diverse range of applications and scientific research. Additionally, Sentinel-1C brings new capabilities for detecting and monitoring maritime traffic
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