MIT Technology Review December 19, 2018
An international team of scientists (Austria, China) made possible an unhackable videoconference between Vienna and Beijing. They include a plan to create a globe-ÂÂspanning constellation of satellites that constitute a super-secure quantum internet. As funding for government programs is opaque, it could be $1.1 billilon. In spite of this China still trails the US in quantum computing. If China thinks the technology could give it a military edge, it might pull back on international collaborations and keep innovations to itself. Close coordination between Chinese government research groups, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the country’s universities has made it possible rapid progress in quantum science. Europe now has a quantum master plan, but the US has been slow to produce a comprehensive strategy for developing the technologies and building a future quantum workforce… read more.
The picture of the receiver shows a spotting laser used to help the satellite connect to the ground station