China is reportedly set to launch the world's first quantum communications satellite into orbit in July — a feat designed to improve the country's data transmission and thwart hackers.
The satellite is capable of securely sending and receiving data by establishing a strong quantum communication between space and Earth. Data sent between the two cannot be copied, stolen or spied on.
Head scientist Pan Jianwei announced the plan at a seminar in Shanghai, claiming that the launch will cement China as the leader in quantum communication.
Jianwei said what they learned from the Edward Snowden case is that information in transmission networks is exposed to risks of being attacked or monitored by hackers.
"There are many bottlenecks in the information security," said Jianwei, who is a leading expert from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The quantum communications satellite is expected to further supply power to China's 2,000-km (1242-mile) quantum computer network, which is currently under construction.
This computer network, which connects Shanghai and Beijing, will be fully operational by the end of 2016. The government and financial institutions will test the system before it is opened to the public.
China's Space Missions
Inaugurated in 2011, China's quantum satellite program is part of the Strategic Priority Program on Space Science, which aims to set five missions into motion.
The program already sent the first of five missions - a dark matter satellite launched into space - in December 2015.
The satellite currently seeks high-energy particles to investigate the presence of dark matter. This is an unseen and mysterious force believed to make up the majority of the universe.
The second mission involved the SJ-10 satellite, the country's first microgravity satellite launched in April 2016. The SJ-10 is a retrievable satellite that carried a milliliter of crude oil in order to find more of it underneath the Earth's crust.
The SJ-10 mission was a collaboration of the European Space Agency and China's National Space Science Centre (NSSC), as well as two petroleum companies in France and China.
Meanwhile, China is expected to dispatch a unique X-ray telescope that will help study black holes and neutron stars later this 2016.
Incidentally, Russia has completed its own quantum communications device, although it is not a satellite.
Photo: Wilson Hui | Flickr
