David Mitlyng for Xairos
Lunar Standard Time
Before you can settle into your new moon base, you need to have an accurate moon clock.
Lunar and deep space missions all need accurate time synchronization over very long distances to function properly.
For one, it is key enabler for the planned Cislunar Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) network.
This isn't needed for driving directions (yet), but it is necessary for getting to the moon safely: maneuvers, rendezvous operations and docking; entry, descent, and landing; and surface operations all require accurate position and timing.
Timing is also critical for lunar and deep space navigation and scientific missions, including mapping the gravity of the moon.
So once you are settled in: is one day on the moon 24 hours or 29.5 Earth days?
Last Week's Theme: The Data Traffic Jam
- Held Q3 2021 Board Meeting and started setting up an Advisory Board.
- Meetings with National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the University of Colorado, and other potential partners.
- Checked out office locations in the Denver/Boulder corridor.
- Working with our university partner on National Science Foundation (NSF) proposals and internship program, which is facilitated through the Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C).
- Looking ahead to NASA and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) solicitations.
- Selected for the 2021 Q2B Quantum Start-ups Pitch Session, thanks to an invitation from the CDL Quantum Stream.
2021
- Protecting GPS Satellites, Signals, and America, November 17, Virtual
- Q2B Practical Quantum Computing, December 7 - 9, Santa Clara, CA
- TC Sessions: Space 2021, December 14 - 15, virtual
2022
- Colloquium on the Physics of Quantum Electronics (PQE 2022), January 10 - 14, Snowbird, Utah
- SPIE Photonics West, January 22 - 27, San Francisco, CA
- Inside Quantum Technology The Hague, February 21 - 23, The Hague, Netherlands
- Quantum Information Processing (QIP 2022), March 7 - 11, Pasadena, CA
- Satellite 2022, March 21 - 24, Washington DC
- Quantum Business Europe, March 23 - 24, location TBD
- IEEE International Conference on Space Optical Systems and Applications, March 28 - 31, Kyoto, Japan
- Space Symposium, April 4 - 7, Colorado Springs, CO
- Workshop on Synchronization and Timing Systems, May 9 - 12, Denver, CO
- Photonics for Quantum, June 6 - 9, Rochester, NY
- Quantum.Tech Boston, June 14-15, Boston, MA
- IEEE Quantum Week 2022, September 18 - 23, Broomfield, CO
- Optical communications has become commonplace on satellites, including SpaceX’s Starlink, Telesat’s Lightspeed, SpaceLink, and is a key component for our system. But these systems were enabled by NASA, who will hold a livestream Tuesday of their 1.2 Gbps GEO-to-ground Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD).
- Previously it was noted that there was speculation that a Chinese debris removal satellite may be a "satellite crushing weapon." Well, now a mysterious object has been spotted alongside the satellite that “could be used to test rendezvous and proximity operations, refueling experiments or manipulation using a robotic arm or other means.”
- And China's quantum lead was a topic at the Executing a National Technology Strategy conference.
Can better timing synchronization help reduce carbon emissions?
Consider that synchronization improves the efficiency of data centers reducing their energy consumption, which is estimated to account for between 1 percent to 3.5 percent of the total worldwide carbon emissions.
This was discussed at last week's 2021 OCP Global Summit, where Facebook and NVIDIA claimed that a "recent test showed that making the timekeeping 80x more precise (making any time discrepancies 80x smaller) made a distributed database run 3x faster — an incredible performance boost on the same server hardware, just from keeping more accurate and more reliable time."
To learn more, please email us or schedule a meeting here.