In spring 2010, the military plans to embark on a road trip across the country to test a new way of navigating. Instead of taking a path marked by a dog-eared road atlas, a compass, or even global positioning satellites, the vehicle will follow one mapped by supercold cesium atoms.
This cross-country trek will be a field test for the Defense Department’s Precision Inertial Navigation Systems program to navigate by measuring the Earth’s rotation using atoms that behave like waves. The vehicle won’t drive blind, but the machine guiding it could make such a feat possible. And someday the new system could also improve the accuracy of gyroscope navigation in airplanes 200-fold, says Air Force Lt. Col. Jay Lowell, who is leading the project.