Scientists could use a GPS device to find and measure elusive dark matter. Two physicists could use the common navigation tool to find the dark matter, which assists in the formation of galaxies.

The two physicists, Andrei Derevianko, from the University of Nevada, Reno, and his colleague Maxim Pospelov, of the University of Victoria and the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Canada, have suggested a method of using the GPS devices to perform a dark matter search, along with other atomic clock networks that compare times from the clocks and seek discrepancies.

Derevianko said in a statement, “Modern physics and cosmology fail dramatically in that they can only explain 5 percent of mass and energy in the universe in the form of ordinary matter, but the rest is a mystery.”

Evidence suggests that dark energy comprises approximately 68 percent of the mystery mass and energy. The leftover 27 percent is often thought to be dark matter, despite not being visible and avoiding detection and measurement.

According to Derevianko, “Our research pursues the idea that dark matter may be organized as a large gas-like collection of topological defects, or energy cracks.” He continues, “We propose to detect the defects, the dark matter, as they sweep through us with a network of sensitive atomic clocks. The idea is, where the clocks go out of synchronization, we would know that dark matter, the topological defect, has passed by. In fact, we envision using the GPS constellation as the largest human-built dark-matter detector.”

According to NASA, dark matter is so named because it is not in the form of stars and planets that humans can see.