Quantum technologies in space

authored by
Rainer Kaltenbaek, Antonio Acin, Laszlo Bacsardi, Paolo Bianco, Philippe Bouyer, Eleni Diamanti, Christoph Marquardt, Yasser Omar, Valerio Pruneri, Ernst Rasel, Bernhard Sang, Stephan Seidel, Hendrik Ulbricht, Rupert Ursin, Paolo Villoresi, Mathias van den Bossche, Wolf von Klitzing, Hugo Zbinden, Mauro Paternostro, Angelo Bassi
Abstract

Recently, the European Commission supported by many European countries has announced large investments towards the commercialization of quantum technology (QT) to address and mitigate some of the biggest challenges facing today’s digital era – e.g. secure communication and computing power. For more than two decades the QT community has been working on the development of QTs, which promise landmark breakthroughs leading to commercialization in various areas. The ambitious goals of the QT community and expectations of EU authorities cannot be met solely by individual initiatives of single countries, and therefore, require a combined European effort of large and unprecedented dimensions comparable only to the Galileo or Copernicus programs. Strong international competition calls for a coordinated European effort towards the development of QT in and for space, including research and development of technology in the areas of communication and sensing. Here, we aim at summarizing the state of the art in the development of quantum technologies which have an impact in the field of space applications. Our goal is to outline a complete framework for the design, development, implementation, and exploitation of quantum technology in space.

Organisation(s)
Institute of Quantum Optics
QuantumFrontiers
CRC 1227 Designed Quantum States of Matter (DQ-mat)
External Organisation(s)
University of Ljubljana
Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST)
Budapest University of Technology and Economics
Airbus Group
Universite de Bordeaux
Universite Paris 6
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light
Universidade de Lisboa
Instituto de Telecomunicacoes
Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA)
OHB System AG
University of Southampton
University of Padova
Thales
Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser (IESL-FORTH)
University of Geneva
Queen's University Belfast
University of Trieste
National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN)
Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI)
Type
Article
Journal
Experimental astronomy
Volume
51
Pages
1677-1694
No. of pages
18
ISSN
0922-6435
Publication date
06.2021
Publication status
Published
Peer reviewed
Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Space and Planetary Science
Electronic version(s)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-021-09731-x (Access: Open)