PREVIEW: Time and Navigation: The Untold Story of Getting from Here to There
Opening to the public Friday, April 12, 2013
The Air Museum Network was honored to be one of the handful of social media organizations selected to preview this new exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum. Was it worth the trip down to D.C.? Absolutely! Here are the details.
The exhibit tells the story of the different tools man has used over the centuries to navigate on land, sea, in the air and in space. Air Museum Network will go into more detail about each section of the exhibit in the days to come. But we want to whet your appetite with some highlights first.
Among the most interesting artifacts displayed were:
America’s First Sea-Going Chronometer
The inner navigational workings of a modern mobile phone
The E. S. Ritchie Aperiodic Compass from the “Winnie Mae”.
The device used by astronauts to navigate in space that is also a centuries old device. I’ll tell you more about it tomorrow.
Among the most interesting facts I learned about navigation were:
Clocks (especially portable clocks) were the breakthrough needed to greatly increase accuracy in navigation.
Atomic clocks in GPS satellites keep time to within three-billionths of a second.
And this other the key navigational differences in between landing the Mars rovers “Spirit” and “Opportunity” vs. “Curiosity”. Do you know the target landing area for both?
The exhibit is divided into five different sections:
Navigating at Sea
Navigating in the Air
Navigating in Space
Inventing Satellite Navigation
Navigation for Everyone
I’ll go into more detail about each section in the days ahead.
The exhibit is located in Section 213 of the National Air and Space Museum located at the intersection of 6th & Independence Ave, SW in Washington, D.C.
The exhibit is a collaboration between the National Air and Space Museum and the American History Museum.
The exhibit was made possible through support of Northrop Grumman, Exelis Inc., Honeywell, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, U.S. Department of Transportation, Magellan GPS, National Coordination Office for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing, Rockwell Collins, and the Institute for Navigation.
Special thanks to Isabel Laura and Alison Mitchell from the National Air and Space Museum for making our visit possible.
