A nano satellite known as QUICK³ has been blasted into orbit to test components for use in future quantum satellite systems to be used for secure communications.
The satellite, developed by a research consortium headed by Technical University of Munich professor Tobias Vogl, was launched into orbit with a booster rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Monday.
The satellite, which is no bigger than a shoebox and weighs around 4kg, will test quantum communication components that will achieve fully secure data transmissions from the sender to the receiver.
Unlike conventional communications through fibre-optic cables, the information transmitted by a quantum communication satellite is not contained in light pulses made up of many photons, but rather in individual, precisely defined photons. These photons have quantum states that make the transmission absolutely secure. As any attempt to intercept the message will change the state of the photons, it will be immediately detected...