/ News
First quantum transmission sent through space
Worried about keeping secrets? Here's a quantum of solace. The first quantum transmission to go via space paves the way for ultra-secure communications satellites.
Secret encryption keys transmitted via quantum links provide the ultimate way to communicate securely. That's because any attempt to intercept the key will be revealed thanks to the laws of quantum mechanics, which say that interception will introduce changes that give away eavesdroppers.
The technology is already available for fibre-optic cables, but a truly global network would need satellites to beam quantum data between distant locations. To test how these might work, Paolo Villoresi at the University of Padua in Italy and his colleagues turned to satellites covered in ultra-reflective mirrors. These are normally used to bounce laser beams back to Earth. The time they take to return shows up any shifts in gravity.
Record bounce
In 2007, the team sent a beam of light to space using the Matera Laser Ranging Observatory (MLRO) in Italy and detected single photons bounced off Japan's Ajisai satellite. For the latest experiment, they prepared photons in four different quantum states – the minimum required to generate an encryption key – and sent them to space using the MLRO. They were able to receive quantum bits of information, or qubits, bounced back from five satellites up to 2600 kilometres above. That smashes the previous record for sending quantum information – 144 kilometres, between two locations on Earth.
To ensure they didn't count background photons that were not part of the signal, the team timed the laser pulses exactly, rejecting any light that returned outside a narrow time window. The observatory acted as the transmitter and receiver, so the team decided not to send an encrypted message. Still, the team thinks the photons would have been able to encrypt about one bit of data a second.
The team has a way to go before quantum satellites are up to speed. Light travells easily through fibre optic cables compared to turbulent air, so ground-based commercial versions of the technology can encrypt at much faster rates of at least 1 megabit a second.
Villoresi compares the performance to Sputnik, the first-ever satellite, launched in 1957. "Comments at the time were, 'How nice, the satellite can send a few beeps, it's totally useless'," he says. "We are more or less the same level." But even a very limited data channel could be used to send secure commands to a spacecraft, he says.
Closer to quantum comms
Rupert Ursin at the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information in Vienna, Austria, points out that Villoresi's team sent the qubits in four bursts, each tens of seconds apart. That means they did not detect all four quantum states at once, which would be necessary for a true quantum satellite.
And Jian-Wei Pan at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei notes that a lot of photons are lost in transmission, so he is not sure the signal would be strong enough to transmit a full quantum key. But Pan and Ursin both say the work shows the technology is getting close.
China has announced plans to launch a true quantum communications satellite in 2016, and other nations' space agencies are investigating the possibility. "Everything is ready, and if we had enough money we could fly," says Ursin. "The risk that we fail in space is reduced thanks to these kinds of experiments."
Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25798-first-quantum-transmission-sent-through-space.html#.U62YvEA0rUd
/ About us
Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
/ Follow us at:
/ Contact:
For additional information, partnerships and sponsorship, contact:
info@2045.com
Media requesting information and interviews, contact PR@2045.com
LinkedIn
LiveJournal
Google
Twitter
Facebook
Я.ру
ВКонтакте
Mail.ru