The reporter learned from the 203 China Aerospace Science and Technology Institute, which independently developed the space active hydrogen atomic clock, which won the best prize in the manned space atomic clock project. The product will be launched in 2022 for China's space station.

The space atomic clock project is very difficult and complicated in many projects of manned spaceflight in China.The project will set up a time and frequency laboratory in outer space to verify related scientific experiments that can not be completed on the earth's surface, such as Einstein's general relativity. The project is scheduled to be launched in 2022. It will use the SR clock, the rubidium fountain clock and the active hydrogen atomic clock to form the space atomic clock group. As the core load, the active hydrogen clock will run without interruption for a long time.

Hydrogen atomic clock (not 203 places) Space atomic clock )

At that time, China will carry out a time comparison in a wider space. The system produces high accuracy and high stability time and frequency signals, which will enhance the Beidou navigation system capability. After the implementation of the project, it is expected to have a greater impact on global positioning, punctuality and timing.

Zhou Tiezhong, the project leader, said that the active hydrogen atomic clock can continuously output frequency signals with high stability and high accuracy. In the current mature atomic clock products, the medium and short-term indexes are the highest, but the products have been restricted by volume and weight in application. 203 the product developed by the technology of storage, loading and separation realizes the high reliability, miniaturization and process optimization of the cavity. The overall weight of the prototype is about 40 kilograms and the volume is 1/5 of the traditional product.

Extended reading

Hydrogen atomic clock is a sophisticated timepiece. Hydrogen atomic clock is widely used in many scientific laboratories and production departments in modern times. It uses an electromagnetic wave radiated by atomic energy levels to control the calibration of quartz clocks, but it uses hydrogen atoms. The stability of this clock is quite high, with a change of only 1/1000000000 seconds per day. Hydrogen atomic clocks are also commonly used in time and frequency standards. They are widely used in radio astronomical observation, high-precision time measurement, rocket and missile launching, nuclear submarine navigation and so on. The hydrogen atomic clock first developed for the American scientist Ramsay in 1960. Hydrogen atomic clock is a high precision time and frequency standard, and has important applications in national defense, space technology and modern scientific experiments.