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Satnews Daily
July 28th, 2016

Quantum SATCOM Discourse Under Development By China


A quantum satellite SATCOM system — that's the focus of plan from China to launch the world's first such craft to prove a variety of "unnamed" experimental communication technologies.

If this first satellite is a success, such will serve as a proof of concept for the construction of a more advanced and additionally secure communication network based on quantum transmissions. Protons that have been arranged in specific communication configurations will be issued over long distances and they will be extremely difficult to decode by third parties and almost tamper-proof. An attempt to dismantle the code will leave an obvious trace that will be more readily identifiable as to who are the perpetrator(s).

A minimum of 20 such satellites will be required in geostationary orbit for this be become a successful technology, according to a physicist from the Universty of Science and Technology in China, Chaoyang Lu. Expect another space race should this launch be successful as competition will intensify between leading space nations to master the quantum satellite communication capabilities. Given the ability for communications to remain secret, the technology could well be of interest to military and commercial entities for communication applications.