China launches ‘hack-proof’ communications satellite
August 16, 2016, 5:17 am

China launches the world’s first quantum satellite on top of a Long March-2D rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, northwest China’s Gansu Province, Aug. 16, 2016 [Xinhua]

At 1:40 am Tuesday, the Quantum Experiments at Space Scale, or QUESS, satellite, was launched on top of a Long March-2D rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in China’s remote northwestern province of Gansu.

The 600-plus-kilogram satellite will circle the Earth once every 90 minutes after it enters a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 500 kilometers.

It is nicknamed “Micius,” after a fifth century B.C. Chinese philosopher and scientist.

“In its two-year mission, QUESS is designed to establish ‘hack-proof’ quantum communications by transmitting uncrackable keys from space to the ground,” it said.

Quess also plans to beam entangled photons to two earth stations, 1,200 kilometers apart, in a move to test quantum entanglement over a greater distance, as well as test quantum teleportation between a ground station in Ali, Tibet, and itself.

“Quantum communication boasts ultra-high security as a quantum photon can neither be separated nor duplicated,” it added. “It is hence impossible to wiretap, intercept or crack the information transmitted through it.”

Even as China gains space prowess, the US Defense Department has begun a campaign aiming to highlight its increasing space capabilities, saying Beijing was pursuing activities aimed to prevent adversaries from using space-based assets in a crisis.

“China’s improving space capabilities have negative-sum consequences for U.S. military security,” a report commissioned by a panel created by the US Congress said last year.

China’s development of space technologies will allow it to “more effectively wield international power,” the report added.

James Clapper, the top US intelligence official and Admiral Cecil Haney, the commander of the US Strategic Command both warned last year that China’s space program threatens US military communications.

“The newly-launched satellite marks a transition in China’s role – from a follower in classic information technology development to one of the leaders guiding future achievements,” Pan Jianwei, the QUESS project’s chief scientist, told Xinhua.

TBP and Agencies