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JIUQUAN, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) - China successfully launched the world's first quantum satellite on top of a Long March-2D rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gobi Desert at 1:40 a.m. on Tuesday.
Called Quantum Experiments at Space Scale (QUESS), the satellite is designed to establish ultra-secure quantum communications by transmitting uncrackable keys from space to the ground.
It could also conduct experiments on the bizarre features of quantum theories, such as entanglement.
The 600-plus-kilogram QUESS is nicknamed "Micius," after a fifth century B.C. Chinese philosopher and scientist who has been credited as the first one in human history conducting optical experiments.
