23.01.2023
ESA to help develop secure quantum communications
Staying safe from cyberattacks that target vital services such as power supplies is increasingly important in today’s digital world. ESA is supporting European autonomy to keep people connected by working with satellite manufacturer Thales Alenia Space to develop highly secure technologies based on the unbreakable laws of quantum physics.
The quantum computers that are currently being developed will eventually be able to easily crack the cryptographic systems used by today’s classical computers. Keeping European information secure in future will therefore need new cryptography based on the quantum properties of light.
However this information will need to be sent over long distances between cities and ground-based fibre-optic quantum information links are limited to a range of a couple of hundred kilometres or so. Meanwhile satellites are well-suited for long-distance quantum communications.