China launched the first-ever quantum-communication satellite, known as QUESS,
atop a Long March-2D rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Aug. 15, 2016 (Aug. 15 local time).
Credit: Xinhua/Jin Liwang
China launched the first-ever quantum satellite Monday (Aug. 15) in an effort to help develop an unhackable communications system.
The nation's Quantum Experiments at Space Scale (QUESS) spacecraft lifted off atop a Long March-2D rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert Monday at 1:40 p.m. EDT (1740 GMT; 1:40 a.m. local time Tuesday, Aug. 16), according to media reports.
"In its two-year mission, QUESS is designed to establish 'hack-proof' quantum communications by transmitting uncrackable keys from space to the ground, and provide insights into the strangest phenomenon in quantum physics — quantum entanglement," China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported. https://www.livescience.com/55800-china-launches-quantum-communications-satellite.html
