Boeing plans to launch a satellite in 2026 to demonstrate quantum networking from orbit.
The Q4S satellite is designed to demonstrate quantum entanglement swapping capabilities in space in a step towards a future secure, global quantum internet.
A quantum internet would be essential to the success of future quantum computers and sensors, connecting across vast distances securely and almost instantaneously.
Boeing is funding the first-of-a-kind, one-year experiment itself and is throwing its weight behind wider quantum technologies.
The company cites applications including fault-tolerant systems that reduce errors in computing, secure voting mechanisms that protect electoral integrity and “blind” quantum computing which allows data to be securely processed without exposure.
"We're making a big bet on quantum technology," said chief engineer for Boeing's disruptive computing, networks and sensors organization Jay Lowell.
“Quantum entanglement swapping underpins the communication of the future, expanding quantum networks beyond simple point-to-point communication. We're launching Q4S to prove it can be done in orbit.”
A quantum internet relies on entanglement, the quantum property by which two or more particles are connected in such a way that the state of one particle instantaneously affects the state of the other, no matter how far apart they are.
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