China Leads World’s First Quantum Satellite Launch Race [VIDEO]

China has reportedly become the first country in the world to successfully launch a quantum satellite into space. The Quantum Experiments at Space Scale, or QUESS, was launched atop a Long March 2D rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 1:40am Beijing time on Tuesday. The 631-kg satellite, which is named after the ancient Chinese scientist Micius, is laden with ultra-high security features to allow for "hack-proof" communications between space and the ground. The satellite will work 500 km above the Earth's surface for the next two years.

The data which gets transferred using quantum communications becomes completely impenetrable and fully encrypted due to quantum entanglement phenomenon. This is because a quantum photon can be neither separated nor duplicated, so it is impossible to intercept the information transmitted through it. In fact, anyone who tries to intercept the message would effectively destroy that same message. The quantum satellite, if successful, would turn out to a great boon for cybersecurity and to tackle digital espionage, reported Daily Mail.

The Quantum Science Satellite, which has been developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), comes as part of China's Strategic Priority Program. The satellite will send quantum-encrypted keys to two ground stations (one in China, and the other in Europe) separated by about 1,200 kilometers (746 miles).​ It is carrying a laser communicator, a quantum entanglement emitter, a quantum key communicator, quantum entanglement source, quantum experiment controller and a processing unit, reported ZDNet.

China’s new satellite would create the world’s largest quantum network https://t.co/69qzf83tQd pic.twitter.com/KMDEh2zQQa

— The Verge (@verge) August 15, 2016

Pan Jianwei, chief scientist of QUESS project with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), told the official Xinhua news agency that with the launch of the new satellite, China's role has changed from a follower in classic information technology (IT) development to one of the leaders paving way for future IT achievements.

Chaoyang Lu, a physicist who is member of the team behind the Chinese satellite, told Nature that China is planning to launch more quantum satellites in future. He added that it would take about 20 satellites to enable secure communications globally.