China yesterday launched the world’s first quantum satellite, state media reported, in an effort to harness the power of particle physics to build an unbreakable system of encrypted communications.
The launch took place at 1:40am in the southwestern Gobi Desert, Xinhua news agency said and comes as the US, Japan and others also seek to develop applications for the burgeoning technology.
Beijing has poured enormous resources into the race, one of several cutting-edge projects the world’s second-largest economy has pursued as part of its massive national investment in advanced scientific research on everything from asteroid mining to gene manipulation.
Photo: AFP
The satellite — nicknamed “Micius” (墨子號) after a fifth-century BC Chinese philosopher — is to be be used in experiments intended to prove the viability of quantum technology to communicate over long distances.
It will also further investigations into some of the more unusual properties of sub-atomic particles, including “quantum entanglement,” Xinhua said.
The term describes what Albert Einstein described as the “spooky” phenomenon of particles exerting influence on each other at a distance, including the ability for paired particles to mirror each other at faster-than-light speeds.
Unlike traditional secure communication methods, the system uses photons to send the encryption keys necessary to decode information.
The information contained in the bursts of subatomic particles is impossible to intercept: Any attempts at eavesdropping will cause them to self-destruct, Xinhua said.
While scientists have shown the trick can be used to transmit messages over relatively short distances, technical hurdles have kept long-range communication out of reach.
The satellite is to attempt to send secure messages between Beijing and Urumqi, the regional capital of Xinjiang.
Success would require the satellite to be precisely oriented to its Earth-bound receiving stations, Xinhua said.
“It will be like tossing a coin from a plane at 100,000m above the sea level exactly into the slot of a rotating piggy bank,” it quoted the project’s chief commander, Wang Jianyu (王建宇), as saying.
“The newly launched satellite marks a transition in China’s role — from a follower in classic IT development to one of the leaders guiding future IT achievements,” Xinhua quoted Pan Jianwei (潘建偉), the project’s chief scientist, as saying.
China “can expect a global network of quantum communications to be set up around 2030,” he said.
Beijing had previously identified the development of quantum technology as a priority, but Edward Snowden’s revelations of spying operations by the US heightened China’s pursuit of spy-proof methods.
The country is also one of several working on building the world’s first quantum computer, which would use sub-atomic particles’ properties in processors that can operate at speeds far faster than current technologies allow.
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