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Flight Delays Sao Paulo, BrazilTruck drivers are forced to take dangerous routes Richmond, VermontPower grid disruptions All over UkraineThese issues stem from a global communications system that relies heavily on GPS satellites and the signals they transmit for its basic functionality.
To keep America’s infrastructure from collapsing if the nation’s GPS satellites are disrupted by weather, war or aging, a Boulder, Colorado, startup called Mesa Quantum is developing a chip-sized replacement.
Specifically, Mesa Quantum is building “chip-scale atomic clocks” and other miniature quantum sensors that can measure and detect changes in the environment around a device to tell it where it is in the world, where it needs to go, and stay in sync with other systems.
These sensors ensure clear, stable video calls regardless of the user’s location, and enable robots, underwater drones and autonomous vehicles to expertly maneuver around populated areas and obstacles where GPS signals are weak or unavailable.
The company, co-founded in 2023 by Mesa Quantum CEO Sristy Agrawal and CTO Wale Lawal, won a $1.9 million grant from the Space Force to demonstrate an alternative to GPS technology for military and civilian applications.
The company also raised about $3.7 million in a seed-stage funding round led by Boston-based medical and defense tech fund J2 Ventures and hardware investor SOSV.
Alex Herstrick, co-founder and managing partner at J2 Ventures, told CNBC that his fund backed Mesa Quantum in part because of its founders’ extraordinary technical backgrounds.
Agrawal recently completed her PhD at the University of Colorado in an elite program affiliated with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and her research focuses on quantum information, computing, and gravity.
Agrawal told CNBC that the lab beneath her university office is home to the world’s most accurate clock. “Working here and interacting with different groups has really helped me understand what the impact of these technologies could be in the future, not just in theory but in practice,” she said.
Her co-founder, Rawal, is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, has a PhD in Materials Science and Nanoengineering from Rice University, and an MBA from Harvard University.
Before starting his own company, he spent years in military research, developing systems for use in “GPS-contested environments,” including precision-guided missiles, swarm drone technology, and magnetic navigation systems used to guide military aircraft.
Lawal explained that military aircraft and other vehicles’ systems cannot afford to be jammed or disrupted. Any disruption could lead to “disastrous events for warfighters” in the air and on the ground. “Losing the GPS signal that drones rely on to monitor the environment and provide information to distant forces would prevent forces from conducting critical missions such as search and rescue.”
Many of the GPS satellites operated by the United States are currently Beyond aging Expected lifespan.
When the two scientists met, they quickly agreed that there was an urgent need for mass-produced, chip-scale technology to mitigate the risks of GPS-related failures in military and commercial systems.
Herstrick said his foundation expects Mesa Quantum to produce the first demonstration of a large-scale “atomic clock” (quantum timing sensor) validated by a top-tier semiconductor manufacturing partner within the next few years.
He also speculates that Mesa Quantum’s sensor technology will be in high demand among companies that build or run their own data centers.
Lawal explains: “Currently, data centres use GPS to synchronise their networks to exchange communications and share data precisely across the cloud. If the network synchronisation is interrupted in any way, it can cause crashes in any system, be it financial systems, hospital systems, social networks, etc.”
The CTO said technology to protect data centers from such crashes could help prevent data loss and improve cybersecurity.
Regardless of which private companies ultimately adopt the startup’s quantum sensors, CEO Sristi Agrawal said the US government is likely to be Mesa Quantum’s largest early customer. “The US government is launching a major initiative to spur innovation in this space, and they’re looking to buy one million quantum sensors per year, provided they can mass produce them,” she explained.
With the grant and seed round in place, Agrawal said Mesa Quantum will expand its team in Boulder, specifically hiring atomic and molecular physicists, optical physicists, engineers and manufacturing experts this year.
The long-term vision, he said, is to “bring to market a suite of quantum sensors that can do everything that today’s GPS-based systems can do, without any of the risk or vulnerability.”
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