Sener chosen to develop quantum key system from LEO orbit

This is the first Spanish quantum key distribution (QKD) mission, and its development is critical for the future of communications security.

Thanks to the award of this contract, Sener leads low-orbit quantum distribution technology in Spain and is at the head of a Spanish consortium of top-tier companies, SMEs, and Public Research Organisations. With a budget obtained from PERTE Aerospace, it will enable Spain to strengthen its position in quantum technology, and its results could be applied to the EU secure satellite communication constellation (IRIS2).

The CDTI (Centre for Technological Development and Innovation), an agency under the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, has awarded Sener the phase 2 contract to develop a QKD demonstrator for low earth orbits (LEO). This is a precursor of what could be the first Spanish QKD-LEO mission, which will enable us to move forward in communications security.

Phase 2 was awarded this summer. Sener previously completed a first phase involving a feasibility study, leading a Spanish consortium made up of the top-tier companies Hisdeat, Hispasat, and Deimos; the SMEs Quside and Luxquanta; and the Public Research Organisations ICFO and IEEC. In phase 2, other leading Spanish companies and institutions will join in the quantum field. The R&D solution proposed by the consortium led by Sener has obtained a very high score in the assessment of phase 1. Now kicks off the prototype’s development, construction, verification, and validation phase, which is estimated to span 20 months and has been funded with €18 million.

Quantum key distribution is a secure communications method based on the inherent properties of photons according to quantum mechanics, specifically on the no-cloning theorem, which states that it is impossible to create an identical copy of an arbitrary quantum state. In essence, it allows creating a secure coded key in the polarisation of an extremely attenuated light beam, in such a way that it is only shared and known by the message’s emitter and receiver. It is considered to be the only way to ensure the invulnerability of communications in the future, once super quantum computers acquire the capacity to decode any encrypted message.

Sener will produce the demonstrator for a LEO mission at an altitude of 500-700 kilometres, by developing a useful load to be onboarded a low earth orbit satellite and its associated ground segment, including the optical ground station.

There are currently no technological solutions on the market that address the technological challenge of quantum key distribution. Therefore, this project has a considerable innovative component that will help Spain strengthen its position in the field of quantum technology. Similarly, the results could be applied to the EU secure satellite communication constellation (IRIS2).

Sener’s contribution in the field of communications, ground-based telescopes and space

Sener will offer its knowledge and experience in the aerospace market in the field of onboarded optical instrumentation, with their required pointing and which will emit the key, and in the field of optical ground-based telescopes, which will receive it. In both fields, Sener is a renowned contractor for the main leading satellite manufacturers and space agencies for use in navigation, telecommunications, exploration and Earth observation, and it has supplied equipment to the main ground-based astronomical observatories and for their large optical telescopes for over 23 years.

A project framed within PERTE Aerospace

The project is framed within the scope of Action 8 ‘Satellite and ground systems for quantum communications’ of PERTE Aerospace, and it has been allocated a budget from the European funds for the Spanish Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan of the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Service, through the State Secretariat for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure (SETELECO). It is managed by the CDTI through the pre-commercial public procurement system, in coordination with the Spanish Space Agency.