Andrew Jones
October 8, 2024

HELSINKI — China will launch new quantum satellites into low Earth orbit next year, according to a scientist leading the project.

Two to three quantum communications satellites will be launched into low Earth orbit (LEO) next year according to Pan Jianwei, the scientist behind China’s 2016 Mozi/QUESS quantum experiments satellite, China Business News reported Oct. 3.

Pan, head of the Institute of Quantum Information and Quantum Technology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), stated that a further satellite will be launched into medium Earth orbit in 2027. He added that China expects to make breakthroughs in quantum relay technologies in the next five to six years to enable a quantum communications network.

China launched the pioneering Mozi satellite in 2016 to test quantum physics in space, particularly focusing on quantum communication and encryption. Developed under CAS, it demonstrated quantum key distribution (QKD) and quantum entanglement over unprecedented distances.

The country has, along with research centers, also built the Beijing-Shanghai Quantum Communication Backbone, a 2,000-kilometer-long fiber-optic network, which was completed in 2017. In 2022, CAS and others collaborated to launch the small Jinan-1 satellite on a Lijian-1 rocket to test quantum key distribution (QKD). It also demonstrated a miniaturization of key technologies.

The new satellites will be combined with ground-based networks for greater and eventually global coverage, according to previous reports. The planned higher orbit satellite will allow for longer duration tests, as satellites in LEO pass overhead in a matter of minutes. It will carry a 600 mm diameter telescope for photon transmission.

“We are cooperating with the National Space Science Center to develop a medium-to-high Earth orbit satellite. In the future, the combination of high orbit satellites and low Earth orbit satellites will build a wide-area quantum communication network,” Pan said in March 2023.

China is also seeking further international collaboration in this field. “China is very open to international cooperation in the quantum field and is willing to conduct more international exchanges,” Pan said, according to the Oct. 3 report. “I hope that after we launch more quantum satellites, we can have more discussions on how to reasonably build quantum constellations and use quantum technology to benefit all humanity.”

Mozi was launched under the first phase of CAS’s Strategic Priority Programme on Space Science. CAS is set to unveil a new, long-term program on space science which appears not to include quantum satellites. That program will focus on areas including black holes, dark matter and dark energy, hunting for habitable exoplanets and the laws of the universe. This indicates the follow up to the Quantum Experiments at Space Scale (QUESS) initiative will be conducted separately.

While China appears to be leading the pack, other space agencies and companies are working on quantum technologies for space. The European Space Agency is looking to develop a quantum communications network, last year awarding funds to a consortium led by Thales Alenia Space. Qube, a German cubesat, launched in August aboard a Falcon 9 to test quantum key distribution. Boeing meanwhile is targeting 2026 to deploy a small quantum networking satellite.