China is definitely not trailing on the road to technological advancement, that much is certain. However, it has finally made a move that will shift its role from a developer to an innovator, as China has launched the very first quantum communications satellite, which will reportedly be "hack-proof."
According to RT, the Chinese satellite was launched by a Long March 2D Rocket and is officially designed to secure communication despite the rapid growth of cyber attacks and electronic surveillance. The satellite,officially called the Quantum Experiments at Space Scale (QUESS), weighs in at more than 600 kg and took off from the Gobi Desert at 1:40am local time.
QUESS, nicknamed "Micius' for a 5th century BC Chinese philosopher, will remain 373 miles from the Earth and will circle the planet every 90 minutes.
Pan Jianwei, chief scientist of the QUESS project, calls the mission a "transition in China's role - from a follower in classic information technology (IT) development to one of the leaders guiding future IT achievements."
As Space.com explains, QUESS will establish "hack-proof" quantum communication by relaying uncrackable codes back to Earth. It will make use of entangled photons to send messages. By using such, the message is theoretically impossible to hack. And should it be proved wrong, the hacking will be evident by a change in the photon's state.
Furthermore, the satellite will also provide a deeper understanding of quantum entanglement.
Quantum entanglement focuses on entangled particles that are somehow linked to each other, no matter the distance between each particle. Reportedly, a chance in one will affect another, despite possibly being billions of miles apart from each other.
Lastly, the Chinese satellite is also going to make an attempt at quantum teleportation. This is when QUESS will bean the information regarding the particles' states directly to a ground station located in Tibet.
Reportedly, plenty of other countries have tried a hand at quantum computing, but China is spearheading the way.
