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MOUNTAIN VIEW, California – While organizations are focused on space applications for quantum communications, quantum computers are not likely to reach orbit for the foreseeable future.
“Even if we see progress on the ground, it will take a long time before that could be a viable compute resource for space applications,” Simone D’Amico, EraDrive chief science officer, and Stanford University associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics, said Oct. 28 at the Satellite Innovation conference here.
Organizations around the world are developing and testing space-based quantum key distribution, which relies on the properties of quantum mechanics to transmit information securely.
“The nodes that are communicating with one another can detect instantaneously whether someone is tampering with the communication or even intercepting it,” D’Amico said.
SES is leading a European a consortium preparing to test quantum key distribution on the Eagle-1 satellite. Scheduled to launch in 2026, Eagle-1 will relay quantum keys to improve cybersecurity for banking, critical infrastructure and government applications.
“This is not theory anymore,” said Mohammad Marashi, SES future business and innovation senior vice president. “Ground terminals are already being upgraded and deployed across Europe in order to do the testing next year.”
Another near-term application is the quantum gravity gradiometer being developed by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
“For deep space applications, the quantum gravity gradiometer measures gravitational fields with accuracies that are orders of magnitude superior to what we can do with the classical methods,” D’Amico said.
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