The First Satellite To Ever Perform Quantum Experiments

The 600 kg QUESS craft is going to be launched sometime this August. This Chinese satellite is the first satellite that will be performing quantum experiments in space. The satellite will be launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. This US$100-million mission is a collaboration between the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

The satellite QUESS craft is going to generate entangled photons in pairs, and these photons will be blasted in China and Austria to test whether they stay together though they are distanced by 1200km. As per the quantum physics rules, these particles are linked and so even if they are a light years apart, altering the property of one changes the other as well. This quantum principle also negates with Einstein's theory that states that nothing can travel faster than light. The team will also be performing a BELL test on the entangled photons in China and Austria. The Chinese researchers hope that transmitting photons through space where they travel more smoothly will allow communication over a greater distance.

Physicist Chaoyang Lu stated that "if the first satellite goes well, China will definitely launch more," he added that nearly 20 satellites are required to create a quantum communications network. At this point, the QUESS craft is going to be in space for a duration of two years in order to test how it works, after which more satellites will be sent to space. If the satellite succeeds, then it might result in an encrypted, space-based internet within a decade.

As per earlier research, scientists have been able to prove the quantum communication for nearly 300kms. Now scientists are hoping that longer distance communication will also work as photons tend to travel faster in space.

Canada, Japan, Italy and Singapore are also making plans and preparing to perform quantum space experiments.