A group of scientists from South Africa and China has successfully established the world’s longest intercontinental ultra-secure quantum satellite link. This connection spans a total distance of 12,900 km.
This breakthrough highlights humanity’s significant progress in quantum communication technology. It also signals a major advancement in global cybersecurity and data encryption.
In the journal Nature, the article titled “Microsatellite-Based Real-Time Quantum Key Distribution” describes this technology as follows:
“A quantum network provides an infrastructure that connects quantum devices with revolutionary computing, sensing and communication capabilities. A quantum satellite constellation offers a solution to facilitate the quantum network on a global scale.”
“Also, a secret key, enabling one-time pad encryption of images, is created between China and South Africa at locations separated by over 12,900 kilometres on Earth.”
The compact quantum payload can be readily assembled on existing space stations or small satellites, paving the way for a satellite-constellation-based quantum and classical network for widespread real-life applications.”