To explore deep space, we’ll need better clocks. Here’s why

Enlarge this image Peter Dazeley/Getty Images

Every single day, humans rely on hundreds of hidden clocks.

GPS location, Internet stability, stock trading, power grid management … all rely on atomic clocks in order to work. Many of those clocks are in orbit, perched on satellites orbiting Earth.

Over time, temperatures swings, power supply and the speed at which the clock is moving can set these clocks very slightly out of sync. This phenomenon is called “clock drift.” To control for it, GPS clocks are set to check the time and correct themselves regularly.

But in outer

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