Tomorrow’s Tech Treepowered by Astra

Sensors & Measurement · Recorded milestone

Clocks that map gravity

Recorded year2020

Clocks sensitive to centimetre height changes chart Earth's gravity field.

Explore this milestone on the interactive map

Built on

Integrated circuitRecorded · 1958requires
Laser cooling of atomsRecorded · 1978enables
Optical frequency combRecorded · 2000enables
Optical lattice clockRecorded · 2005enables

Led to

Gravity-map navigationForecast · ~2044enables
Live gravity map of EarthForecast · ~2045enables

Sources & evidence

Additional source

Dataset updated 2026-10-18. This individual record has not been separately re-reviewed.