SpeQtral and Thales
Alenia Space Collaborate to Demonstrate Satellite
Quantum Communications using entangled photons
From space to Earth: SpeQtral-1
satellite to transmit qubits to Thales Alenia
Space’s ground station in precursor demonstrations
for quantum information networks
September 19, 2022
SpeQtral, a leading provider of
satellite quantum communication technology, and
Thales Alenia Space, a joint Venture between Thales
(67 %) and Leonardo (33 %), today announced that it
has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (“MoU”) to
research, develop and demonstrate quantum
communications from space to Earth.
Quantum information networks
are currently being heavily researched and
developed. The industry has seen rapid development
of quantum computing and quantum sensing
technologies, with the promise of bringing a step
change in performance improvements. In order to
realise the full potential of such technologies,
there will be a need to transfer quantum information
across distances of varying ranges. Using satellites
to transfer quantum information is actively being
pursued as one of the best methods to realise
long-distance quantum communications.
As part of this MOU, joint
experiments will be carried out, between the
SpeQtral-1 quantum satellite - currently being
developed - and a state-of-the-art quantum ground
receiver currently being developed by Thales Alenia
Space. The joint experiments are anticipated to be
completed by 2025.
Primed to be one of the first
few quantum satellite missions to be launched by a
commercial entity, SpeQtral-1 is anticipated to be
used to demonstrate the feasibility of long-distance
transfer of quantum information, as well as
interconnections between various metropolitan
quantum networks which are currently being set up.
Thales Alenia Space established
in 2018 and has been executing since then a roadmap
towards the mastery of end-to-end quantum
communications. This roadmap is fully aligned to
SpeQtral’s. Beyond satellites, end to end leads
Thales Alenia Space to consider ground stations and
overall mission segments relying on a strong telecom
system integrator expertise, development on optical
terminals and the two-decade experience of Thales in
quantum communications.
The collaboration, which will
likely involve a consortium of other relevant French
technology partners as well, provides an excellent
platform for both countries to collaborate and
conduct joint experiments, leveraging on the
respective counterparts’ strong technology heritage.
This will enable all parties to innovate at the
frontier of quantum information networks.
“This collaboration is an
important demonstration of international
interoperability of quantum communication assets, a
step along the path leading to global quantum
information networks,” said Chune Yang Lum,
Co-founder and CEO of SpeQtral. “Thales Alenia
Space’s optical ground systems promise very high
performance and we very much look forward to working
with them.”
“We are excited to be working
with SpeQtral in these developments towards global
quantum information networks,” said Christophe
VALORGE, CTO, Thales Alenia Space. “Together with
SpeQtral, we have a great opportunity to experiment
the quantum communications infrastructure of the
future.”
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