Download China`s Quantum Satellite Could Change Cryptography Forever

http://www.popsci.com/china-to-launch-worlds-most-powerful-hyperspectral-satellite
China To Launch Powerful Civilian
Hyperspectral Satellite
CCRSS will spot missile bunkers and launchers
By Jeffrey Lin and P.W. Singer PopularScience,com Posted January 25, 2016
Image Cuge
Chinese Internet
This hyperspectral image cube (layers of the image in hundreds of different EM wavelengths) of
terrain allows for detailed analysis of the imaged area, since anomalies and features (such as
mineral deposits) of the land would react differently to different EM wavelengths.
While SEAL Team 6 descended upon Osama Bin Laden's compound in
Abbottabad, Pakistan in 2011, they used hyperspectral imaging to gain
an edge in nighttime urban combat. But China is soon bringing that
advantage to space, preparing to launch the world's most powerful
hyperspectral imaging satellite.
Many Eyes in One
China National Space Administration
Hyperspectral cameras, such as this one launched in 2008 on the HJ-1B microsatellite, share
technology with spectrometers, which measure the material composition of objects through
the unique signature that each material has to a certain EM wavelength.
Electro-optical devices like cameras and infrared sensors generally
observe only one band in the electromagnetic spectrum, i.e. cameras
observe the band visible to human eyesight and infrared cameras view
the infrared band. Hyperspectral cameras and sensors, on the other
hand, can simultaneously view hundreds of electromagnetic bands for a
single image, building a layered 'cube' of the image in different
electromagnetic wavelengths. The use of such a wide range of
wavelengths provides the ability to observe objects which conceal their
emissions in one part of the spectrum (i.e. stealth aircraft and thermally
suppressed engines) or are hidden (such as underground bunkers).
Chang'e 1 Lunar Scans
RADI
The Chang'e 1 lunar orbiter used a hyperspectral camera to identity different layers of mineral
deposits in the lunar crust.
Since the 1970s, China has a strong history of scientific and civilian
utilization of hyperspectral imaging. Space-based platforms include the
Chang'e lunar missions and Earth-observation from the Tiangong space
station and HJ-1 small satellite. Aircraft-mounted hyperspectral imagers
are used for tasks such as environmental surveys, oil prospecting,
disaster relief and crop measurement. As computer processing power
improves and hyperspectral sensors get smaller, Chinese civilian and
military applications are likely to expand.
CCRSS Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth
The CCRSS's hyperspectral camera will be a powerful civilian one in orbit, with a 15 meter
resolution across 328 electromagnetic bands, once launched later this year.
A key in this program is the China Commercial Remote-sensing Satellite
System (CCRSS), to be launched later this year. It can collect data on
328 electromagnetic bands, offering very high resolution of up to 15
meters, according to the researchers from the Institute of Remote
Sensing and Digital Earth in Beijing. In comparison, the U.S. TacSat 3,
launched in 2010, collects several hundred electromagentic bands,
though at a higher resolution of 4 meters. While it is being launched for
commercial users, like most other Chinese earth-observation satellites,
it would also be available for military use.
Congratulations
South China Morning Post
Professor Xiang Libin, of the Shanghai Engineering Center for Microsatellites, shakes Chinese
President Xi Jinping's hands after received an unspecified decoration in the 2016 National
Science and Technology Awards.
Notably, on January 8, 2016, hyperspectral expert Professor Xiang Libin
of the Shanghai Engineering Center for Microsatellites received an
award from President Xi Jinping during the 2016 national science and
technology awards ceremony, for an unspecified project. Interestingly,
Professor Xiang's non-mention on the awards program mirrors the
scrubbing of a 2015 Feng Ru aeronautic award handed out to Professor
Wang Zhengguo for developing China's first scramjet hypersonic
engine.
You Can't Hide
National Defense Magazine
U.S. Army troops already use hyperspectral imagery (often obtained from aircraft) to locate
hidden hazards like IEDs (across many different EM wavelenghts, IEDs and other man-made
objects give off a different imagery from natural features).
Broader Chinese advances in hyperspectral imaging can be expected to
have a variety of military uses. Hyperspectral imaging can be a valuable
tool for finding submarines and underwater mines in shallow waters.
On land, they can determine the actual composition of objects to
distinguish decoys (hyperspectral imaging can capture the differences
in EM signature of a wooden decoy versus an actual missile launcher).
In the air, hyperspectral sensors can passively detect even thermally
shielded stealth aircraft. For counter-WMD missions, hyperspectral
imaging can be used to detect nuclear and chemical weapons
production, as well as locating the underground tunnels and bunkers
that would house those strategic assets. For China, hyperspectral
imaging is opening up a whole new world.
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CHEOS- China's New Eye in Space?
Jeffrey Lin and P.W. Singer are very knowledgeable about China’s
armament. Pentagon should hire them as consultants.
http://www.popsci.com/chinas-quantum-satellite-could-change-cryptography-forever
China's Quantum Satellite Could Change
Cryptography Forever
QUESS could hold the key to uncrackable communications
Jeffrey Lin, P.W. Singer, and John Costello Posted March 3, 2016
Science
Popular
QUESS Satellite
In the age of relentless cyberattacks and global electronic surveillance, nations
and citizens are looking for any means to secure their communications. China is
poised to launch a project that may provide the path to an uncrackable
communications system, by turning messages quantum and taking them into
space. The new Quantum Space Satellite (QUESS) program is no mere science
experiment. China is already becoming a world leader in quantum
communications technology; a satellite that delivers quantum communications
will be a cornerstone for translating cutting-edge research into a strategic asset
for Chinese power worldwide.
Cryptography operates through the use of an encryption key (such as a numbers
pad), which, when applied to an encryption algorithm, can be used to decrypt or
encrypt a message. Quantum entanglement is the act of fusing two or more
particles into complementary “quantum states.” In such states, no particle can be
independently described, instead the particles exist in a hazy shared quantum
state that “collapses” when observed. Quantum encryption thus takes advantage
of this feature, using it to detect would-be eavesdroppers, whose presence causes
quantum states to collapse and reveal their spying to legitimate parties.
Additionally, the complexity of quantum mechanics makes it virtually impossible
to reverse engineer the quantum key generated through quantum entanglement.
Quantum keys are thus theoretically impossible to crack by even quantum
computing -- a theoretical form of supercomputing that promises to defeat
traditional forms of encryption. (It is important to note, however, that all is not
perfectly secure. Quantum secured communications, like other forms of
encryption, are vulnerable to denial of service, physically tampering of the
quantum communications device, human failures in operational security and
impersonation of sender).
Quantum keys are theoretically impossible to
crack.
The Quantum Space Satellite, aka Quantum Experiments at Space Scale (QUESS),
will seek to turn this theory into reality. It will be launched in July 2016. Chief
scientist Pan Jianwei remarks that QUESS will complete China's growing quantum
communications network, which includes a 2,000-kilometer-long network
between Beijing and Shanghai.
QUESS's function is to test the phenomena of quantum entanglement. Operated
by the China Academy of Sciences, this 500kg satellite contains a quantum key
communicator, quantum entanglement emitter, entanglement source, processing
unit, and a laser communicator. QUESS will relay transmissions between two
ground stations (one in China, and the other in Europe) transmitting quantum
keys. Pan remarked that the distances involved (the QUESS orbits at an altitude of
1,000km) is ideal for testing quantum teleportation of photons. Additionally, the
Austrian Academy of Sciences will provide the optical receivers for the European
ground stations.
Quantum teleportation
In addition to its own efforts, Chinese scientists are teaming up with their
European counterparts on other quantum technologies such as photon
teleportation, transmission error reduction and random number generators. If
QUESS is successful, China will build an Asian-European quantum key distribution
network by 2020, to be followed by a global quantum communications network in
2030.
QUESS is one of the National Space Science Center's "Strategic Priority Programs,"
which include scientific projects that look at black holes, dark matter, and cosmic
background radiation. The program marks a significant shift in Chinese space
programs, which have largely focused on human and robotic space exploration
rather than space science. But there is no doubt of its security intent. Pan noted
that the unbreakable security of quantum cryptography would be vital to any
Chinese regional warfighting capabilities.
QUESS fits into a broader series of experimental quantum encryption programs
which may be intended to address concerns over China's information security,
particularly in the post Snowden era. Government, military, and financial
networks are juicy targets for espionage, and quantum encryption promises to
provide a level of potentially unbreakable encryption for these systems, as well as
a sure-fire method to detect any attempts at intrusion.
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/internet-abuzz-after-quantum-computing-lesson-canadian-pmtrudeau-n557071
Internet Abuzz After Quantum Computing Lesson
by Canadian PM Trudeau
BY REUTERS
See Justin Trudeau's 'a beautiful mind' moment and more in Sunday TODAY's roundtable 6:44
TORONTO — The internet was abuzz with praise for Canadian Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau on Saturday after clips showing him schooling a reporter on
quantum computing went viral.
While political opponents learned a lesson about underestimating the photogenic
Trudeau, 44, during last year's surprise electoral upset, the unnamed reporter fell
into the same trap during an event at a Canadian university on Friday when he
jokingly tested the former teacher's knowledge.
Trudeau's explanation on quantum computing generated cheers and applause
from the room and set social media abuzz.