  The performance of optical clocks has strongly progressed in recent years,
and accuracies and instabilities of 1 part in 10^18 are expected in the near
future. The operation of optical clocks in space provides new scientific and
technological opportunities. In particular, an earth-orbiting satellite
containing an ensemble of optical clocks would allow a precision measurement of
the gravitational redshift, navigation with improved precision, mapping of the
earth's gravitational potential by relativistic geodesy, and comparisons
between ground clocks.
