China space station sets 9.7 pK record
China Science’s X post and a 6 November 2026 CAS statement say rubidium atoms were cooled to 9.7 picokelvin on Tiangong. Science also confirms the result.
Hakkı ALKANPublished 2 min read
A 9.7 pK record was reported for rubidium atoms on China’s Tiangong space station, according to China Science’s X post and a 6 November 2026 statement from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Science’s 5 November 2026 First Release paper also confirms the result. That is 9.7 trillionths of a degree above absolute zero in equivalent temperature.
CAS says the cloud was observed for 7 seconds after release. For example, Science’s summary puts the atom count at about 20,000 rubidium-87 atoms. As a result, the figure is described as roughly 14 orders of magnitude below room temperature.
What does the 9.7 pK record mean?
The 9.7 pK figure refers to the cloud’s expansion rate as an equivalent temperature; however, it does not mean the equipment or the surrounding environment reached the same temperature. CAS stresses that nuance. The goal is to study Bose-Einstein condensates and quantum gases over a window that is hard to open on the ground.
Why do this in space?
On Earth, gravity pulls the cloud down and limits how weakly atoms can be confined. In the CAS report, Wolfgang Ketterle notes that 7 seconds of free expansion is roughly comparable to a 250-meter fall on the ground. In addition, microgravity enables weaker confinement and longer observation.
The facility is the Cold Atom Physics Rack (CAPR), also described as a “super refrigerator.” It launched with Mengtian in 2022 after a project that began assessment in 2011. For example, a ground system of about 20 cubic meters and 10 tonnes was packed into about 0.7 cubic meters and 0.5 tonnes for orbit.
How does the facility work?
The method combined an all-optical trap (ODT), evaporative cooling and non-adiabatic expansion. However, evaporative cooling in an optical trap is less efficient in microgravity, so the team added magnetic-gradient support. Peking University, the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, and the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization (CSU) of CAS took part. The results appear in Science.
Why does this matter?
This is not consumer-product news; it is fundamental physics and space science. No Turkey-specific pricing or availability was announced. Editorially, the 9.7 pK story is both a temperature record and a demonstration of why microgravity stretches the measurement window. In addition, for related quantum infrastructure coverage see our AMD Umbra quantum platform piece; for space hardware context see Hubble commercial reboost.
Technical summary
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Equivalent temperature | 9.7 pK |
| Atom count | About 20,000 rubidium-87 |
| Observation time | 7 seconds |
| Facility | Tiangong / Mengtian / CAPR |
| Method | All-optical trap, evaporative cooling, non-adiabatic expansion |
| Prior context | ~38 pK (microgravity magnetic trap); ~52 pK (NASA CAL/ISS) |
| Publication | Science, 5 November 2026 |
| Press | CAS, 6 November 2026 |