Cosmic Rays: The New Frontier in Navigation Technology
TL;DR
Scientists at the University of Tokyo have developed a new kind of GPS called the muometric positioning system (muPS) that uses muons, sub-atomic particles created by cosmic ray collisions, to navigate underground, indoors, and underwater. The muPS works by using muon-detecting sensors as reference points instead of satellites in low-Earth orbit. The current accuracy of the muPS is between 2 meters and 25 meters, with a range of up to 100 meters, but researchers hope to improve accuracy through the use of chip-scale atomic clocks.
- Move Over GPS, We're Using Cosmic Rays To Navigate Now IFLScience
- GPS alternative taps cosmic rays for underground or underwater navigation New Atlas
- Scientists develop underground navigation system using cosmic rays Geo News
- Scientists conduct first test of a wireless cosmic ray navigation system Ars Technica
- Japanese scientists test cosmic ray GPS that works through walls and underwater MyBroadband
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