Hacker News Reader

Whay do you do once you measured the gravitational fluctuations so precisely? Is there some kind of map of fluctuations you compare to? Arent these almost the same on adjacent points? Or is it a function of local terrain topography (mountains, lakes etc?)

View on HN

Indeed.

>The system deduces the strength of Earth’s gravity in every given point of the journey from the motion of the atoms illuminated by laser beams inside a vacuum chamber and compares that data with gravity maps compiled from satellite measurements.

Is that like TERCOM but using strength of gravity rather than terrain height?

Yup, I was just about to comment the same. I find it shocking that there's enough information/variation in gravitational field that you can match on.

The variation is very small, and that is why it can be exploited only with an extraordinarily sensitive gravimeter, like the one discussed in the article.

Very Star Trek technobabble vibes, except for real!

Precisely.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com