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Micius – Quantum Communication Satellite
The Quantum Experiments at Space Scale (QUESS) or Micius, the world’s first quantum communications satellite, was launched aboard Long March-2D rocket in August 2016.
Micius – Key Points
The satellite is fitted with Sagnac interferometer instrument.
Toutedas the world’s first hack-proof satellite, Micius will provide quantum communications between space and Earth.
The first Micius satellite was developed at an estimated cost of $100m, under China’s Strategic Priority Programme on Space Science.
It will demonstrate transcontinental quantum communications between China and Austria, and will be followed by Micius 2 and Micius 3 satellites.
Micius quantum satellite was launched a top Long March 2D rocket manufactured by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology. The two-stage rocket has a length of 41m and diameter of 3.35m.
The launch vehicle is powered by four YF-21C engines, which generate 2,961.6kN of thrust in the first stage, and a YF-24 propulsion module including a YF-22 main and four YF-23 vernier engines that generate a total thrust of 930kN in the second stage.
The satellite was launched from the launch pad 603 located at LC43 complex at the Jiuquan space centre in Jiuquan, north-west China.
Micius has successfully brought entanglement-based quantum cryptographyto its original ground stations 1,200 km apart by sending simultaneous streams of entangled photons to the ground stations to establish a direct link between the two of them.
Scientists have started using quantum encryption forsecuring long-range communication and Micius has been at the forefront of quantum encryption for several years.
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Entangled Photons:
- Entangled photons are twinned light particles whose properties remain intertwined no matter how far apart they are.
- If one of the photons is manipulated, the other will be similarly affected at the very same moment.
- It is this property that lies in the heart of the most secure forms of quantum cryptography (the study of concepts like encryption and decryption).
- If one of the entangled particles is used to create a key for encoding messages, only the person with the other particle can decode them.
Quantum race:
- Secure long-distance links such as this one will be the foundation of the quantum internet, the future global network with added security powered by laws of quantum mechanics, unmatched by classical cryptographic methods.
- The launch of Micius and the records set by the scientists and engineers building quantum communication systems with its help have been compared to the effect Sputnik had on the space race in the 20th century.
- In a similar way, the quantum race has political and military implications that are hard to ignore.