Europe Plans to Launch a Quantum Encryption Satellite for Ultrasecure Communications in 2024 (space.com) 32
"Europe is aiming to launch a technology demonstration satellite for secure, quantum-encrypted communications in 2024," reports Space.com, "with a view to developing a larger constellation."
The satellite, Eagle-1, will be the first space-based quantum key distribution (QKD) system for the European Union and could lead to an ultrasecure communications network for Europe, according to a statement from the European Space Agency (ESA).
Eagle-1 will spend three years in orbit testing the technologies needed for a new generation of secure communications. The satellite will demonstrate the "feasibility of quantum key distribution technology — which uses the principles of quantum mechanics to distribute encryption keys in such a way that any attempt to eavesdrop is immediately detected — within the EU using a satellite-based system," according to ESA...
"European security and sovereignty in a future world of quantum computing is critical to the success of Europe and its Member States," Steve Collar, CEO of SES, said in the statement. He added that the goal is "to advance quantum communications and develop the Eagle-1 system to support secure and sovereign European networks of the future."
SES will be leading a consortium of more than 20 European countries, according to the ESA's statement: Eagle-1 will demonstrate the feasibility of quantum key distribution technology — which uses the principles of quantum mechanics to distribute encryption keys in such a way that any attempt to eavesdrop is immediately detected — within the EU using a satellite-based system. To do so, the system will build on key technologies developed under ESA's Scylight programme, with the aim of validating vital components supplied within the EU....
It will allow the EU to prepare for a sovereign, autonomous cross-border quantum secure communications network.
The system will initially use an upgraded optical ground terminal from the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) alongside a new optical ground terminal to be developed by a team from the Netherlands. The Eagle-1 platform satellite from Italian company Sitael will carry a quantum-key payload built by Tesat Spacecom of Germany and will be operated by Luxembourg-headquartered SES.
Eagle-1 will spend three years in orbit testing the technologies needed for a new generation of secure communications. The satellite will demonstrate the "feasibility of quantum key distribution technology — which uses the principles of quantum mechanics to distribute encryption keys in such a way that any attempt to eavesdrop is immediately detected — within the EU using a satellite-based system," according to ESA...
"European security and sovereignty in a future world of quantum computing is critical to the success of Europe and its Member States," Steve Collar, CEO of SES, said in the statement. He added that the goal is "to advance quantum communications and develop the Eagle-1 system to support secure and sovereign European networks of the future."
SES will be leading a consortium of more than 20 European countries, according to the ESA's statement: Eagle-1 will demonstrate the feasibility of quantum key distribution technology — which uses the principles of quantum mechanics to distribute encryption keys in such a way that any attempt to eavesdrop is immediately detected — within the EU using a satellite-based system. To do so, the system will build on key technologies developed under ESA's Scylight programme, with the aim of validating vital components supplied within the EU....
It will allow the EU to prepare for a sovereign, autonomous cross-border quantum secure communications network.
The system will initially use an upgraded optical ground terminal from the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) alongside a new optical ground terminal to be developed by a team from the Netherlands. The Eagle-1 platform satellite from Italian company Sitael will carry a quantum-key payload built by Tesat Spacecom of Germany and will be operated by Luxembourg-headquartered SES.
Re: (Score:2)
Launch a enable absolutely secure communications, or encryption is bad and the government must be able to decode it?
Whats good for me is bad for thee.
And yet ... (Score:4, Insightful)
At the end of the day some employee of the government is going to fall for a phishing attempt and the private keys will be leaked. The attacker gains a tunnel right through the super-quantum encrypted network.
put it in an room that needs voice verification to (Score:2)
put it in an room that needs voice verification to enter
Re: put it in an room that needs voice verificatio (Score:2)
And this solves the problem by ____?
Re: (Score:3)
And this solves the problem by ____?
Not linking it to anyone's voice.
Re: (Score:2)
Voice recognition can easily be faked through high-quality audio recordings.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
In my company's penetration testing, we find that on average, 10% of employees fail phishing tests. It's not a matter of if, but when.
eagle-1? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
all the tech awesomeness aside --- "eagle 1" ?? this sounds like a US bird. Come up with a more original name please EU !
While it's easy to make that association, as Wikipedia notes [wikipedia.org], Eagle is a type of bird, found in many places around the world:
Eagles are not a natural group but denote essentially any kind of bird of prey large enough to hunt sizeable (about 50 cm long or more overall) vertebrates.
Habitat
The eagles are generally distributed in all types of habitats and nearly all parts of the world. The birds can be found in northern tundra to tropical rainforests and deserts. In North America, bald eagles and golden eagles are very common.
The other nine species are endemic to Central and South America. The birds have a highly concentrated population in the Africa and eastern hemisphere. Several islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans are also rich and have distinct species of eagles.
Re: eagle-1? (Score:3)
Re: eagle-1? (Score:2)
Probably funded by fines on US tech companies, so naming rights are only fair.
Re: (Score:2)
this sounds like a US bird. Come up with a more original name please EU !
It's a very valid European symbol, strongly associated with the Holy Roman Empire. The eagle is used as a symbol of the Roman Legion from a decision of consul Gaius Marius in 102 BC. An eagle symbol can be seen in old representations of Charlemagne (742-814), and the eagle of Otto III of the Holy Empire (980-1002) goes all the way to the national emblem of present-day Germany and Czech Republic (and many cities and regions within). The legend of Lech, Czech, and Rus' from the 14th Century brought a white ea
Re: eagle-1? (Score:3)
"Oops our bad. We'll rename it Falcon 1"
Can you say Honeypot? (Score:3)
Long awaited (Score:2)
This was long-awaited, we (the West) are late to the game, China is testing its own satellites for a few years already. I understand the current tech has a very low bitrate and might not be useful in practical scenarios, but still need to be tested to keep up with the rivals.
Not much use... (Score:3)
Re: Not much use... (Score:2)
Somehow I think it's worse than that. I'm imagining them lending the phone to their 5 year old (what can he do? He does not know the password to the second lock screen) and little Chuckums downloads and runs "Candy Unicorn Puppyland Adventure." Except CUPA is loaded with malware and all the second lock screen does is prevent access to the government files through the phone's file manager but does not actually do anything to encrypt or protect the files. The rest is obvious.
Anyhoo (Score:2)
I guess make microsatellite eavesdroppers then, that soft land and attach and listen in on the electronics.
That's what I'd do. Hell, if the big agencies aren't already, stop being slackers.
Secure from whom? The US? Russia? (Score:2)
And as long as I can jam the transmissions with something as simple as a microwave and paperclip, it is utter useless for all the war mongering of the EU.
Re: (Score:2)
Forget it, he's rolling [imdb.com].
solution looking for a problem (Score:5, Insightful)
Quantum encryption doesn't exist (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
As long as we do not look at the actual contents of the encrypted message, quantum encryption may or may not exist!
-- E. Schrödinger.
Vaporware (Score:2)
This is a research lab in space. There is no way that they are sending actually useful amounts of entangled photons over some kind of free space link. There are still way too many engineering problems to be solved for this satellite to do anything practical.
Damn! (Score:2)