Speed of light with their product equalling "c". In 1983 the metre was defined as "the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of of a second", fixing the value of the speed of light at by definition, as described below. Consequently, accurate measurements of the speed of light yield an accurate realization of the metre rather than an accurate value of "c". Outer space is a convenient setting for measuring the speed of light because of its large scale and nearly perfect vacuum. Typically, one measures the time needed for light to traverse some reference distance
Speed of light metre as: "The metre is the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/ of a second." As a result of this definition, the value of the speed of light in vacuum is exactly and has become a defined constant in the SI system of units. Improved experimental techniques that prior to 1983 would have measured the speed of light, no longer affect the known value of the speed of light in SI units, but instead allow a more precise realization of the metre by more accurately measuring the wavelength of Krypton-86 and