The Science of NASA’s Cold Atom Lab Operating Onboard the ISS

The Cold Atom Lab (CAL) launched to the International Space Station (ISS) in May 2018, and has been operating since that time as the world’s first multi-user facility for the study of ultra-cold atoms in space. The unique microgravity environment of the ISS is utilized with CAL by a national group of principal investigators to achieve exceptionally low temperature gases, to study and utilize their quantum properties in an environment free from the perturbing force of gravity, and to observe and interact with these gases in the essentially limitless free-fall of orbit. In addition to the toolbox of capabilities built into CAL for controlling the properties and interactions among the atoms, an upgrade in 2020 also enabled the study of atom interferometry in orbit. We will give an overview of the pioneering, microgravity enabled quantum gas research explored with CAL to date and discuss near-term projects to study dual-species gases using both rubidium and potassium quantum gases in CAL. The impact from this work, and potential for follow-on studies, will also be reviewed in the context of future space-based fundamental physics missions.