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Thales Alenia Space and Hispasat have embarked on a two-year program to develop a payload to enable more secure ways to pass data to address concerns about emerging quantum-based decrypting technology.
Quantum computing technology threatens to be able to easily thwart current encryption techniques, driving appetite for ways to keep communication secure. Quantum key distribution (QKD) is designed to defeat such efforts.
Under a program called QKD-GEO, the two companies will work to develop a payload for use on geostationary (GEO) satellites and associated ground equipment. The €103.5 million ($107 million) program is funded by the Spanish government, the companies said Jan. 21, with additional backing from the European Union. The program formally kicked off last month.
“Quantum key distribution through an optical communications system makes it possible to confirm with certainty if the keys have been intercepted, as the integrity of communications is verified continuously thanks to the quantum properties of photons,” the companies said. The technology, they added, would not work with fiber-optic connections because of distance limitations. Putting such a payload into GEO would enable continuous coverage over a region without the need for signal tracking.
“The establishment of encryption keys through a quantum protocol is going to represent a paradigm shift in the secure communications of the future, where space and satellites will be configured as the ideal infrastructure for their transmission over long distances,” Hispasat CEO Miguel Angel Panduro said in a statement.
The QKD-GEO system will encompass a high-precision telescope with pointing mechanism, a quantum random number generator, a polarized photon signal source, laser beacon and processor to generate the keys and manage the communications. The ground element will include telescopes to receive the photons and recover the quantum keys, as well as other elements, the companies said.
The effort includes a test campaign to validate the technology over a range of 140 km (90 mi.) between the islands of Tenerife and La Palma. It does not cover the actual deployment of the payload on a future GEO satellite.
Hispasat intends to launch the QKD-GEO payload on a satellite, though has not yet decided which one.
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