Powerful quantum computers will spur many technological breakthroughs, but will also enable our everyday encryption systems to be cracked. At the NUS Centre for Quantum Technologies and our S15 Space Systems spin-out company, we are working to establish a constellation of satellites that can deliver encryption keys from orbit. These keys are derived from the randomized quantum states of photons transmitted from the satellite and measured in such a way that they cannot be covertly intercepted by an eavesdropper. This process, quantum key distribution, is thus computationally uncrackable and can secure our sensitive data in the coming age of quantum computers.
