IT company QEYNet has received $1,462,481 in contributions from the Canadian Space Agency to fund the demonstration of its quantum key distribution (QKD) technology in space.
According to the CSA, the outcome of the test could secure global communications and set a foundation for future quantum networks.
“Satellites are vital to the infrastructure of our rapidly advancing technological world. We rely on them daily for navigation, weather forecasting, and communication. To protect against cyberattacks, satellites encrypt their communications using keys that are loaded before launch. If those keys are compromised after launch, there is no way to load new ones,” the CSA explained in a media release. “And with the emergence of powerful, next-generation computers, current encryption methods risk becoming obsolete in the near future.”
The QKD technology utilizes the quantum properties of individual light energy particles, known as photons, to create private encryption keys that “are mathematically guaranteed to resist undetected eavesdropping,” the CSA said. In space, the technology will use satellites to transmit the keys between distant locations through quantum mechanics, protecting the confidentiality of exchanged information.
With the CSA grant, QEYNet will be using low-cost Earth-to-space QKD technology in space to demonstrate the technology’s ability to load new keys in orbit and to test QKD between Earth locations. The test will also confirm the operations concept for the technology.
QEYNet is one of three companies from the Canadian space sector to receive CSA funding. Mission Control Ottawa received $2,150,000 for its Machine Learning Operations for Production EdgeAI in Space project, while StarSpec Technologies Cambridge also got $2,150,000 for its InspireSAT Constellations On-Demand project.
Overall, the CSA contributed $5.8 million. The agency publicized the announcement of opportunity in August 2022 for SMEs, not-for-profit organizations, and universities working in the space sector to advance their research and development efforts.