China launches satellite for quantum communications test
AUG 16, 2016
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.0210032
Spaceflight101 : On 15 August China launched the Quantum Science Satellite into orbit aboard a Long March 2D rocket. The satellite carries a crystal that generates entangled pairs of photons. An optical communication system splits each pair and transmits one of the photons to a ground station in either Vienna, Austria, or Beijing, China. The photons are then used to generate encryption keys. Researchers have tested similar setups on Earth’s surface by using two stations spaced a few hundred kilometers apart. The Quantum Science Satellite will be the first space-based communications test system.
© 2016. American Institute of Physics