World's first Quantum Communication Satellite launched by China

China on 16 August 2016 launched the world's first quantum satellite named Quantum Experiments at Space Scaler (QUESS) satellite. The satellite was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the remote northwestern province of Gansu.

The satellite will help establish hack-proof communications between space and the ground.

Highlights of the Quantum Experiments at Space Scaler (QUESS) satellite
• It is nicknamed Micius, after a 5th century BC Chinese philosopher and scientist who has been credited as the first one in human history conducting optical experiments.
• It is designed to establish hack-proof quantum communications by transmitting uncrackable keys from space to the ground.
• It will enable secure communications between Beijing and Urumqi, the capital of China's violence-prone far western region of Xinjiang.
• It will circle the Earth once every 90 minutes after it enters a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 500 km.