Quantam Race isIn The Orbit
The mission
We are building it for Earth and beyond.
How It Works
From orbit to endpoint, one key at a time
01/06
Entangled photons, in orbit
Untappable
A LEO payload generates entangled photon pairs and shares them both ways, down to ground stations and onward to a space station deeper in orbit. The satellite never holds the key, so there is nothing on board to steal.
Why Now
Every secret encrypted today is a target tomorrow
Adversaries are recording encrypted traffic now to break it later, the moment a quantum computer can run Shor's algorithm. Defence, financial and diplomatic secrets carry decade-long lifetimes. The clock is already running.
- 01
Harvest now, decrypt later
Encrypted traffic captured today is stored until a quantum computer can break RSA and ECC retroactively, exposing secrets with multi-decade value.
- 02
Physics, not mathematics
Classical keys rest on problems that are merely hard to compute. Quantum key distribution derives keys from measurement, so any interception disturbs the photons and is detected.
- 03
A capability no nation can import
Secure infrastructure bought from abroad is, by definition, not secure. Protocols, hardware and key management must be independent and auditable end to end.
The Gap
A capability no nation can import
Operational gap
China runs a national quantum backbone with paying users. Elsewhere, pioneering work, from ISRO free-space QKD demos to DRDO inter-city trials, remains brilliant but isolated experiments.
The import paradox
Secure-communication infrastructure bought from abroad is, by definition, not secure. Protocols, hardware and key management must be independent and auditable end-to-end.
A window, not a wall
China's first build leans on 32 trusted relay nodes, each a physically guarded weak point. The next network can leapfrog with entanglement-based links that trust no middleman.
Where the race stands
- China
Operational 4,600-km space-ground network since 2021
- Europe
EuroQCI quantum infrastructure under construction
- USA
National Quantum Initiative; networks in lab phase
- India
Isolated QKD demos, no integrated network yet