- 1The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA
- 2University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA
- 3University of California Santa Barbara, California, USA
- 4California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
- 5National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, Colorado, USA
The Quantum Pathways Institute (QPI), sponsored by NASA/STMD, is a collaborative effort between UT Austin, CU Boulder, Caltech, UC Santa Barbara, and NIST. The QPI is focused on advancing quantum sensing technology for next-generation Earth science applications, and its vision targets 1 micro-Eotvos precision gravity gradient measurements in orbit, requiring femto-meter/s^2 inertial sensing. Such a gravity gradiometer system could target ice-mass loss measurements within 10 Gt/year, ocean heat uptake inference within 0.1 W/m^2, and better than 0.1 mm/year sea-level rise inference.
This paper reports progress on two fronts. First a short summary status of QPI team’s work is presented, on quantum sensing research, conceptual development, and experimental results targeted towards a gravity gradiometer system. Second, we present progress in developing a roadmap to science mission implementation, including progress in addressing some key technical spaceflight and data analysis challenges.
How to cite: Bettadpur, S., Topcu, U., Bank, S., Wasserman, D., Holland, M., Anderson, D., Axelrad, P., Nicotra, M., Blumenthal, D., Watkins, M., and Stephens, M.: Quantum Pathways Institute contributions to a roadmap for technical implementation and scientific interpretation of a spaceborne quantum gravity gradiometer., EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-20699, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-20699, 2025.
