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On January 28, National Geodetic Survey (NGS) scientists spent a day with engineers at Draper Laboratory, a non-profit research and development laboratory associated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, engineers at Draper have been at the leading edge of guidance system technology since the Apollo space missions. Certain components of guidance systems are the same as those used in systems that measure the Earth's gravity—including the gravimeter and inertial navigation unit used by NGS's Gravity for the Redefinition of the American Vertical Datum (GRAV-D) Project. Discussions with Draper involved both potential upgrades for NGS's current airborne technology, as well as designs for gravity-measuring systems that are two orders of magnitudes better than currently available commercial systems. The improved technology is expected to be fully developed within two years. For more information, contact Theresa Diehl.
