Boeing employees inspect the Q4S flight payload during testing to verify the hardware can withstand launch and on-orbit conditions. Credit: Boeing
PORTLAND, Ore. – Boeing demonstrated a key quantum networking protocol in ground testing of a compact payload ahead of on-orbit experiment in 2027.
“High-fidelity entanglement swapping” was demonstrated earlier this year by Boeing’s Q4S quantum networking satellite system, Boeing announced June 18. After performing entanglement-swapping tests for more than a year, Boeing is now performing final integration of the Q4S mission.
“Quantum networking has the potential to transform how information is shared, timed and protected across global systems, but only if it can work outside the lab, under real mission constraints,” Lane Ballard, Boeing chief technology officer, said in a statement. “Q4S is about taking an important quantum capability and proving it on mission-ready hardware.”
There’s growing interest and funding for companies developing space-based quantum sensors, clocks and computers. Entanglement swapping, which relies on teleportation to extend links between entangled photon pairs, is a core building block of quantum networks.
