Local scientists have developed a super-precise measurement system that can help align telescopic satellites in space.

A team led by Professor Kim Seung-woo at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) says the technology, using femtosecond lasers, enables precise alignment measurements of up to one nanometer in vacuum environments similar to those found in space.

Prior technologies only allow for alignment measurements of one millimeter.

Kim said that the discovery, which took about eight years, will allow for precise readings of up to one million kilometers.

The team’s findings have been published by the British journal Nature Photonics.