16 The Quantum Future of Space Warfare [Drew]

OBJECTIVES

• Students shall comprehend the foundational differences between quantum technology and legacy computing, communication, encryption, and measurement technologies.
• Students shall assess the capabilities and limitations of quantum computing, communication, encryption, and measurement to the field of space operations.

INTRODUCTION 

In this chapter, we provide a brief introduction to quantum technologies, including quantum computing, quantum communications, quantum encryption, and quantum sensing. We will explore the physical principles behind the quantum technologies and the potential applications of these quantum technologies to space operations. Because quantum technologies and the quantum mechanics behind them are highly technical disciplines, this chapter does not endeavor to explain them in any level of technical detail. Rather, it provides a basic overview of some of the fundamental ideas behind quantum technologies in order to allow the reader an appreciation for what is currently happening in space with regard to these fields and what could realistically happen in the future. Thus, the reader should leave with an appreciation of the state of the art of quantum technologies as they apply to space operations.

The state of the art is evolving rapidly, and space-related applications of quantum technologies still depend on government funding. As a result, these programs are subject to budgetary, developmental timelines, and flight scheduling considerations. The nature of fundamental science development became apparent to me when, as a junior space operations officer, I visited the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University in the autumn of 2011. They were, at the time, experimenting with quantum computing, and I asked our guide when he thought they would have an operational quantum computer. Our guide was prepared for the question and responded that he thought the technology would be operational in about twenty years.

While the guide and I did not agree on a definition of “operational,” now past the halfway point of that twenty-year period, it looks like my guide had estimated conservatively. Quantum technologies continue to evolve rapidly, and the applications of those technologies promise revolutions in complex computation, cryptography, and precision measurement. Think-tanks, consulting firms, defense organizations, industry, and academia are awash with studies on these subjects, and there is a justified concern that existing systems and methods are vulnerable—or will be vulnerable in the near term—to attacks by actors with advanced quantum technologies. More private capital investment is on the horizon. For quantum computing specifically, the industry is expected to grow from “$412 million in 2020 to $8.6 billion in 2027” (Campbell, 2023). Among nations and corporations, there is an obvious desire to master these technologies as quickly as possible because doing so provides first-mover advantages in science, defense, and business.

But just what are these quantum technologies and what makes them different from legacy digital methods? Furthermore, what are the implications of these technologies for space operations? As stated, the aim of this chapter is not to make the reader an expert on quantum mechanics or space operations but to provide a basic understanding of how quantum computing, quantum communications, quantum encryption, and quantum measurement work and how those technologies are already affecting or will affect space operations.

To that end, it may be valuable to address some limitations about quantum technologies up front. First, in most cases, quantum technologies are more likely to augment rather than supplant classical computing, communication, encryption, and measurement methods; we will still need traditional methods for the foreseeable future. Second, digital computers, the networks that connect them, and their data are not helpless against quantum intrusion. Quantum intrusions can be defended against, as we will see in the discussion on post-quantum cryptography (Bernhardt, 2019). Third, quantum technologies are not always the most practical option; searching large amounts of data, for example, may be best accomplished by either classical or quantum methods, depending on the conditions (Bernhardt, 2019). Like any other tool, both digital tools and quantum tools must be applied in the ways that are best suited to their strengths while minimizing their vulnerabilities. In other words, it is important to assess the capabilities and limitations of these technologies objectively, recognizing that they are neither a panacea for all our problems, nor are they harbingers of certain doom.

To begin considering the strengths and vulnerabilities of these tools, it is necessary to understand some fundamentals about digital and quantum technologies, and while this discussion begins with a focus on quantum computing, the ideas apply across quantum applications. The primary difference between digital and quantum technologies lies in what physical phenomenon are used to convey information. Digital computers encode information in a binary system that uses the presence or absence of an electrical signal to represent ones and zeros. If an electrical signal is present, the value of the bit is one; if there is no electrical signal, the value of the bit is zero. Different combinations of ones and zeros correspond to different symbolic values. For example, the numbers zero through five can be represented by the strings of ones and zeros as shown in Table 16-1 below.

Table 16-1: Representation of numbers zero through five as binary numbers.

Source:  (Math is Fun, “Binary Number Systems,” , 2023)

Whereas traditional computing uses electrical signals to generate ones and zeros, quantum computers use the physical properties of elementary particles: electrons or photons (Bernhardt, 2019). For electrons, the physical property is called spin. Like the Earth or a dipole magnet, electrons have a north and a south pole, and spin is a measurement of how far the electron’s polar axis is tilted from the vertical (Bernhardt, 2019). For photons, the measured property is polarization; the angle of a polarized light particle (a quanta) as it passes through a filter is measured (Bernhardt, 2019). While both particles are available for quantum technologies, it is important to note that the ongoing investigations related to space operations discussed in this chapter primarily employ photons.

Whether measuring electrons or photons, the way in which the measurements occur influences the outcome of the measurement and must be accounted for (Bernhardt, 2019). Furthermore, the outcomes of the measurements can only be assessed probabilistically (rather than with certainty as in the case of measuring whether an electrical switch is deterministically either on or off). This information is encapsulated in a quantum bit, or qubit, which then may be translated into a string of traditional bits (Van Amerongen, 2021). Traditional computing and quantum computing, therefore, are complementary technologies but before delving into the topic of quantum computing specifically, it is necessary to discuss the unusual properties of quantum particles.

UNUSUAL QUANTUM PROPERTIES 

Electrons and photons behave in non-intuitive ways. The below figure describes these properties: superposition, entanglement, and observation. Each of these properties creates challenges and opportunities for how quantum systems may be used. First, to put it in terms of a classical computing analog, superposition means that a qubit can be both a one and a zero at the same time (Van Amerongen, 2021). The challenge is that this physical state requires extremely low temperatures, only about 15 millikelvins above absolute zero (Van Amerongen, 2021). The opportunity is that superposition potentially enables quantum computers to perform multiple calculations simultaneously, allowing them to solve problems so complex that they are beyond the capacity of even the most powerful supercomputers (Van Amerongen, 2021).

Figure 16-1: Definitions of Superposition, Entanglement, and Observation

Source: (Buchholz & Mariani, 2020)

Entanglement means that when one particle is entangled with one or more other particles, what happens to one particle—a change in spin, for example—will simultaneously affect the other particle, even when separated by vast distances without any apparent physical way of exchanging information—what Albert Einstein famously called “spooky action at a distance” (Simonite & Chen, 2023). Being able to “produce and detect pairs of entangled photons” is essential for transmission of information among quantum computers and other relay nodes like satellites, but doing this, and producing the number of terminals and nodes needed for a quantum internet involves a series of complicated scientific and engineering tasks that are only now becoming feasible (O’Neill, “Space station to host ‘self-healing’ quantum communications tech demo.” NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. , 2022); (Buchholz & Mariani, 2020)

Finally, once entangled particles are observed, they cannot be read again. The act of observing them changes their natures, which “can be a great advantage for secure communications” but also makes copying computer code impossible in the classical way and testing programs exceedingly difficult (Buchholz & Mariani, 2020). Furthermore, because photons and electrons exist everywhere in nature, entangled particles are subject to interference from the natural environment, limiting the distances over which they can be transmitted on fiber optic networks without “trusted nodes” to function as repeater stations (Kwon, 2020).

QUANTUM COMPUTERS 

In the discussion of quantum technologies, the place to begin is with a discussion of quantum computers. As mentioned in the introduction, quantum computers have been under development for quite some time, and their power and sophistication are increasing at significant rates. The International Business Machine Corporation (IBM) is currently the industry leader with its Osprey chip (Campbell, 2023). Unveiled in 2022, Osprey’s capacity is 433 qubits, and IBM plans to create a 4,000-qubit chip by 2025 (Campbell, 2023). As long as quantum computers continue to double in processing power every six months—“four times faster than Moore’s law for classical chips”—IBM’s goal remains realistic (Buchholz, Mariani, & Routh, 2020). While quantum computing is not a topic of household conversation, quantum computers have already exceeded the capacity of traditional supercomputers.

Figure 16-2: Because qubits can exist in multiple states simultaneously, they can perform multiple operations simultaneously

Source: (Campbell, 2023)

The point at which quantum computing power outpaces traditional computing power is called quantum supremacy and was first demonstrated in a combined effort of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Google, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 2019 (Tavares, 2019). In this experiment, Google’s Sycamore quantum processor outlasted NASA’s Electra petascale (quadrillions of operations per second, or a thousand trillion calculations) supercomputer in a test of computing complexity with only 53 qubits—less than an eighth of the computing power of Osprey (Tavares, 2019); (Savage, 2019). To verify that the advanced calculations of Sycamore were correct, the team used Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Summit supercomputer, at that time the “most powerful supercomputer in the world,” to check Sycamore’s math—until the point where not even Summit could keep up (Tavares, 2019). Sycamore can achieve rates of about 200,000 trillion calculations per second, or 200,000 teraflops (Remmel, 2022). Interestingly, since the Sycamore experiments, Oak Ridge’s newest supercomputer, called Frontier, was the first to achieve exascale computing—a performance three orders of magnitude beyond petascale or more than one million trillion operations per second (Remmel, 2022). As of April 2023, Argonne National Laboratory’s Aurora supercomputer and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s El Capitan supercomputer—both petascale computers—have yet to be completed but may reach operational status by the end of the year (Moss, 2023); (Bartman, 2023).

As Electra, Sycamore, Summit, and Frontier demonstrate, advances in traditional computer science are progressing alongside advances in quantum computing, and the two efforts often go hand-in-hand. One application of Frontier is simulating “molecular models with more atoms with greater complexity and on longer timescales than ever before” to gain new insights into chemical theory (Remmel, 2022). One might easily imagine that such advanced calculations will shed light on the behavior of not only atoms, but also of electrons and photons, the very behaviors of which are necessary for quantum computing. In a practical sense, such advanced calculations open up a host of other possibilities. It may be possible to “invent novel fuel sources and design new climate-resilient materials;” to visualize the millions of atoms in a virus, as was done with COVID-19 (Remmel, 2022); to enable advanced testing of the nation’s nuclear stockpile without detonation (Bartman, 2023); to optimize shipping routes or patient medical care (Campbell, 2023), or to simulate the fluctuations of financial markets more accurately (Bova, 2021). Calculations that “involve finding an arrangement of items that optimizes some goal” are called combinatorics and are a particular strength of quantum computers (Bova, 2021).

As we will see shortly, encryption is a combinatorics problem that has particular utility in space operations applications. First, however, it is necessary to discuss how space might be involved in connecting the information created and stored by quantum computers. Then we may discuss how this information can be secured through quantum encryption. Finally, quantum sensors can feed into this network either using satellites to relay their observations or as payloads on the satellites themselves.

SATELLITES: NODES ON THE NETWORK 

As with the early analog-computation satellites and with the current digital-computation satellites, satellites are nodes on a network. They must receive commands from ground stations to conduct their normal operations, and they must pass data down to ground stations or to other satellites to provide utility. All satellites regardless of their size or function share these characteristics, and they employ on-board computers to process information and radio or laser transmitters and receivers to relay it.

The way in which information is relayed between a satellite and a ground-station computer changes significantly with the employment of quantum technology. To relay information between quantum computers, entangled photons need to be generated and sent to two different quantum computers, each capable of receiving and measuring the photon  (O’Neill, “NASA’s quantum detector achieves world-leading milestone.” NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. , 2023). Indeed, this is the way that ground-based quantum computers relay the quantum keys necessary to decrypt and encrypt streams of information, and this is how China’s Micius satellite was able to successfully distribute quantum keys to two ground stations in 2017 and conduct “the world’s first quantum encrypted virtual teleconference between Beijing and Vienna” (Kwon, 2020).

One limitation of Micius was the need for exceptionally low error-detection rates (Kwon, 2020). Two separate NASA projects are working on both the transmission and the receiving technologies necessary to enable space-based relay between quantum computers. First, the Space Entanglement and Annealing Quantum Experiment (SEAQUE) will demonstrate the ability to produce and internally measure entangled photon pairs on the International Space Station (O’Neill, “Space station to host ‘self-healing’ quantum communications tech demo.” NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. , 2022). Second, the Performance-Enhanced Array for Counting Optical Quanta (PEACOQ) has demonstrated the ability within a laboratory to detect 1.5 billion photons per second  and measure “the precise time each photon hits it, within 100 trillionths of a second” (O’Neill, “NASA’s quantum detector achieves world-leading milestone.” NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. , 2023).

Figure 16-3: NASA’s PEACOQ Detector

Source: (O’Neill, “NASA’s quantum detector achieves world-leading milestone.” NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. , 2023)

Detectors like PEACOQ must retain the ability to make accurate measurements over time—a task that is a challenge in the space environment because everything in space is continuously bombarded by various forms of radiation that can degrade sensors (O’Neill, “Space station to host ‘self-healing’ quantum communications tech demo.” NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. , 2022). SEAQUE is demonstrating the additional technology of an on-board laser to repair degradation to the sensor (O’Neill, “Space station to host ‘self-healing’ quantum communications tech demo.” NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. , 2022).        With these two technologies, NASA is investing in the foundational technologies necessary to produce and measure entangled photons. But these two experiments only provide hardware for the distant ends of the link. To connect the ends, laser communications will be necessary.

Satellites typically communicate with the ground by using radio frequencies, but laser communications are becoming more common. NASA’s Lunar Laser Communications Demonstration (LLCD) in 2013 and the Optical Payload for Lasercomm Science (OPALS) in 2014 demonstrated in-space data transfer, and the Optical Communications and Sensor Demonstration (OCSD) demonstrated space-to-ground laser transmission in 2017 (Schauer, 2022). The Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD), “the agency’s first technology demonstration of a two-way relay system,” launched in 2021 aboard the Defense Department’s Space Test Program Satellite-6 (Schauer, 2022). Most notably within the commercial sector, Starlink satellites use laser crosslinks to communicate with one another, but in-space laser communication is less challenging than trying to send lasers over vast distances through Earth’s atmosphere (Rainbow, 2021).

Laser communications promise greater data transfer rates, greater information security, less massive hardware, and lower power inputs (Schauer, 2022). Although laser communications work without quantum technology, optical networks are needed to transfer qubits among quantum processors, and this means using lasers as the “highway system” for free space transmission (that is, the transmission of information without fiber optics) (Baird, 2021). In other words, the goal of networking multiple quantum processors across the globe, the quantum internet, will require laser communications.

ENCRYPTION

For data that needs to be secured—everything from sensitive intelligence collections to common electronic funds transfers—encryption is essential. Encryption allows a user to receive information securely from another user, know that it has not been altered in the transfer process, decrypt the information into a useful form, and keep external observers from interpreting it (Bernhardt, 2019).

One of the most common types of encryption is called Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) encryption (Buchholz & Mariani, 2020). To paraphrase the explanation from (Buchholz & Mariani, 2020), RSA encryption works in this way for a bank transaction:

• Your computer generates a key (a number called K)
• The bank’s computer generates a large number, N, with at least 300 digits, which is the multiple of two prime numbers, p, and q.
• The bank’s computer also generates another number, a puzzle piece that your key needs to operate, e.
• The bank sends you N and e. Your computer performs a calculation, creating a number called “Ke mod N.”
• Your computer sends Ke mod N back to the bank. They already know e and N, so they can easily calculate your key, K, and access your data.
• Anyone trying to steal your data would need to be able to calculate p and q, which is exceedingly difficult for conventional computers.

These calculations are so difficult, in fact, that a “a regular computer needs billions of years to crack RSA, [but] a fast quantum computer would take just hours” (Campbell, 2023). At the beginning of the decade, this achievement was thought to be possible by 2030 using a process called Shor’s algorithm (Buchholz & Mariani, 2020); Bernhardt, 2019), but a team of researchers from China in 2022 claimed to have cracked RSA using quantum methods (Campbell, 2023). Even if their claims are inflated or false, it is still currently possible to save RSA-encrypted data until such a time that it can be easily decrypted, raising significant concerns for national security, the financial industry, and the protection of proprietary information (Buchholz & Mariani, 2020); (Campbell, 2023).

Just as quantum technology can be used to decrypt information, it can also be used to encrypt information. One method of employing quantum technology in support of data security is called Quantum Key Distribution (QKD). In fact, it was QKD technology that allowed the Chinese and Austrians to communicate securely via the Micius satellite in 2017 (Barnhardt, 2019), but because Micius itself “‘knew’ the sequences of photons, or keys, for each location, as well as a combined key for decryption,” the satellite itself was a vulnerability (Kwon, 2020). To eliminate that risk, the next step was to employ entanglement-based quantum key distribution, a technique that simultaneously sends “two strings of entangled photon pairs” to two different ground stations such that the satellite itself does not have to serve as a trusted node (Kwon, 2020).

As in the case of comparing quantum computers with traditional supercomputers, quantum encryption and traditional encryption are best viewed as complementary technologies rather than competing ones, and each should be employed in the manner that makes the most sense for a given application and to maximize the strengths of one while minimizing the weaknesses of the other. Furthermore, quantum computers—although a serious threat to traditional encryption—are unlikely to make traditional encryption obsolete. They will, however, be much more capable of cracking traditional encryption unless preventative measures are taken to make them quantum-resistant (Bernhardt, 2019). For the United States, the National Institute of Standards and Technology has the responsibility to “devise postquantum security” (Campbell, 2023), but the National Security Agency (NSA), the intelligence community entity responsibility for cryptography, has already implemented “quantum-resistant algorithms” on “existing platforms” with the assurance that they will update their protocols as required (National Security Agency).

MEASUREMENT 

Because quantum measurement devices leverage elementary particles to perform their measurements, they promise never-before-seen levels of precision. Their potential applications are numerous, and the understanding garnered from these measurement campaigns is likely to fundamentally alter our understanding about nature and the way we approach scientific, economic, and security problems.

Foundational to this effort is the development of optical clocks to offer greater precision over traditional atomic clocks. While atomic clocks on Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites have long been the standard for global timing, quantum entanglement promises clocks that are even more precise (Merali, 2010). Recalling the PEACOQ photon detector, the need for a very precise time to register those detections becomes apparent. As in PEACOQ, individual photons are detected with time increments as precise as 100 trillionths of a second (O’Neill, “NASA’s quantum detector achieves world-leading milestone.” NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. , 2023).

In fact, the development of these “optical atomic clocks” is an essential complement to the development of other technologies that require such precise measurements. Quantum LIDAR, for example, bounces laser light off of an object, and receives back individual photons—rather than reflected pulses as in traditional LIDAR or radar (Bowler, 2019). A potential military application of this technology is the detection of stealth aircraft (Buchholz & Mariani, 2020), but it is also likely to find application in fields where traditional LIDAR has proved invaluable like archaeology, shoreline monitoring, and urban planning (American Geosciences Institute. , 2023). Additionally, quantum versions of interferometers, magnetometers, and Rydberg sensors for radio-frequency measurement are other technologies under investigation, and like quantum LIDAR and quantum radar, they allow for finer measurements than are possible with traditional technologies (Manu, 2023).

Although interferometry can be applied to many disciplines, the most intriguing applications come in the field of gravimetry. In 2018, a company called AOSense, Inc. built a gravity interferometer that is small enough to be hosted on a satellite and could be the precursor of sensors used to measure gravity waves from black holes or to “measure the interior structure of planets, moons, asteroids, and comets” (Keesey, 2018). Similar applications for Earth include using quantum gravimetry to monitor glacier and water flow as part of the study of climate change (Keesey, 2018), sensing the shift of magma within volcanoes, and surveying underground mines and tunnels prior to beginning construction projects (Bowler, 2019). Potential military applications of this technology include detection of underground bunkers, tunnel complexes, or storage facilities and even the detection of submarines underwater (Buchholz, Mariani, & Routh, 2020).

Figure 16-4: Goddard Space Flight Center and AOSense, Inc. control atoms to spell “NASA.”

Source: (O’Neill, “Space station to host ‘self-healing’ quantum communications tech demo.” NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. , 2022)

IMPLICATIONS FOR SPACE OPERATIONS

This chapter has discussed the unusual physical properties that underlie quantum technology and provided insights into the efforts to advance quantum computing, communications, encryption, and sensing. These categories are vast and are each worthy of deeper investigation. Like the products of the digital revolution before it, quantum technologies are likely to transform every aspect of society from defense to the economy. For space operations, the transformations are likely to fall into two broad categories. The first set of implications concerns applications that will help us gain new knowledge or apply new methods to our current ways of doing things. The second set of implications involves those applications that are likely to entirely supplant our current methods.

To begin once again with computing, it is anyone’s guess what kind of new fuels, materials, or chemical compounds advanced quantum computers and simulations may develop for space applications. One might most obviously apply such technologies in the design and construction of satellites or in the optimization of orbits or sensor collection tasking. One might even envision a satellite with quantum computers on board to process the vast amounts of data gathered by quantum sensors or to communicate with other quantum computers on the ground. The extreme cold in space would aid the supercooling needed for quantum computers to operate, and it has been suggested that the lunar surface would provide an excellent location for the construction of quantum computers (Cannon, 2022).

Meanwhile, NASA’s Laser Communications Roadmap outlines a plan to continually advance laser communications capabilities, employing them in future Artemis and deep-space missions for high-capacity video feeds and sensor data relay (Schauer, 2022). When coupled with the high-data-rate production of quantum sensors, this infrastructure will provide unprecedented amounts of information about the space environment, planets, gravity, and the Earth. It is likely that this technology will continue to expand in the commercial sector, as well, and just as there are numerous applications for commercial space-based sensing, there are likely to be remarkably similar applications for quantum sensors in those same fields.

If the data produced by these quantum devices requires encryption for transmission back to Earth, then quantum encryption may be applied to the transmission of digital data. China’s Micius satellite has already demonstrated QKD encryption at transcontinental distances, so we should expect broader application of similar techniques to secure data transiting among satellites and ground stations (Bernhardt, 2019). Of course, data created by traditional computers can also utilize quantum encryption to enhance security, so broader applications in that area are likely, as well.

Finally, with the tremendous amount of data already collected by remote sensing satellites, quantum computers operating quantum algorithms, such as Grover’s algorithm, could offer a “quadratic speedup” in data processing under certain conditions—that is, at a power of two faster than classical algorithms (Bernhardt, 2019). The vast data stores produced by the quantum LIDAR or quantum gravitational sensors of the future might require similar data processing.

The second set of implications for space operations concerns the way in which quantum technologies may supplant traditional space operations roles and functions. For the near term, all current satellite systems and missions will remain necessary, but there is a chance that quantum technologies may lead to reduced reliance on satellites in two key areas. First, because they can account for the extremely complex interaction of multiple variables over time, quantum computations promise better-than-ever modeling of complex weather patterns (Swayne, 2022). If sufficiently accurate, such models may reduce requirements for weather satellites. Similarly, quantum accelerometers may make satellite constellations like GPS, Russia’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), Europe’s Galileo, or China’s Beidou obsolete. There is already significant interest in this technology to enhance inertial navigation accuracy of submarines that operate out of range of GPS’s radio signals and for ships that may have to operate in environments with electromagnetic interference (Papadopoulos, 2022). Indeed, the role of positioning, navigation, and timing satellites may eventually be eliminated entirely, and plans for such enhancements from the lunar surface (see, for example, NASA’s Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE) program) or GPS-like constellations around the Moon may prove unnecessary.

CONCLUSIONS

The evolving technologies of quantum computing, quantum communication, quantum encryption, and quantum sensing promise to affect every aspect of our lives. As discussed, these technologies operate differently than their digital counterparts, but that does not necessarily make them incompatible with the computation, communications, encryption, and sensing methods currently in place. On the contrary, because quantum technologies operate on foundational principles of the physical world that are more fundamental than their digital counterparts (Bernhardt, 2019), the two can often go hand-in-hand, and it is an emerging best-practice that quantum and digital methods are made to join forces when the capabilities of one complement the limitations of the other. Such a complement occurs in the use of QKD encryption used to secure digital information.

We have further explored the utility of these technologies for space operations purposes. While NASA is a leading agency in these development efforts, industry, academia, and defense entities are also keen to exploit these technologies for their particular uses. While these representative technologies, like quantum LIDAR and gravitational measurement, have obvious reconnaissance potential for the detection of disturbed soil or submarines, they may also be applied to civil uses like the mapping of archeological sites from a distance. The technologies are thus dual-use, and it seems quite likely that we are only scratching the surface of potential applications of the technology.

Still, quantum technologies are not a panacea for all civil, military, or space operations problems. Significant challenges remain with largescale computing, the application of encryption to existing data, the protection of existing communications methods to quantum incursion, and the scaling and ruggedizing of laboratory equipment into more operationally useful packaging. Even when these challenges are overcome, it is almost certain that classical computing, communications, encryption, and sensing will continue to have their uses—sometimes even surpassing their quantum counterparts in usefulness or practicality. Whatever the future may hold for these technologies, they will constitute only a handful of the countless options in the space portfolio, but this handful of options promises to transform the technology landscape moving forward and thus demands attention from experts in all fields of application.

REFERENCES

American Geosciences Institute. . (2023). “What is LIDAR and what is it used for?” . Retrieved from www.americangeosciences.org/: https://www.americangeosciences.org/critical-issues/faq/what-LIDAR-and-what-it-used.

Baird, D. (. (2021, December 29). LCRD—the Future [Audio podcast episode]. In The invisible network. NASA. . Retrieved from www.nasa.gov/: https://www.nasa.gov/mediacast/goddard/2021/22-lcrd-the-future-nasas-the-invisible-network-podcast.

Bartman, J. (2023). “Cutting-edge science keeps the nation’s nuclear deterrent safe, secure, and effective in an era without nuclear testing.” Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. . Retrieved from discover.lanl.gov/: https://discover.lanl.gov/publications/national-security-science/2023-sp

Bernhardt, C. (2019). Quantum-Computing-for-Everyone. Boston: MIT PRESS. doi:https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11860.001.0001

Bova, F. G. (2021, January 7). “Quantum computing is coming. What can it do?” Harvard Business Review. . Retrieved from hbr.org/: https://hbr.org/2021/07/quantum-computing-is-coming-what-can-it-do.

Bowler, T. (2019). “How quantum sensing is changing the way we see the word.” British Broadcasting Corporation. . Retrieved from www.bbc.com/: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47294704.

Buchholz, S., & Mariani, J. &. (2020). “The realist’s guide to quantum technology and national security: What nontechnical government leaders can do today to be ready for tomorrow’s quantum world,” Deloitte. Retrieved from www2.deloitte.com/: https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/public-sector/the-impact-of-quantum-technology-on-national-security.html.

Campbell, C. (2023). “Quantum computers could solve countless problems—and create a lot of new ones.”. Retrieved from time.com: https://time.com/6249784/quantum-computing-revolution/

Cannon, K. (2022). Resources of the Moon. . Golden, CO.: Recorded lecture, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO.

Keesey, L. (2018). “NASA-industry team creates and demonstrates first quantum sensor for satellite gravimetry.” NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. . Retrieved from www.nasa.gov/: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2018/nasa-industry-team-creates-and-demonstrates-first-quantum-sensor-fo

Kwon, K. (2020). “China reaches new milestone in space-based quantum communications.” . Retrieved from www.scientificamerican.com/article/: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/china-reaches-new-milestone-in-space-based-quantum-communications/.

Manu, S. (2023). “Atomic quantum sensor and clocks.” NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Retrieved from sbir.nasa.gov/: https://sbir.nasa.gov/content/atomic-quantum-sensor-and-clocks.

Math is Fun, “Binary Number Systems,” . (2023). Retrieved from www.mathsisfun.com: https://www.mathsisfun.com/binary-number-system.html.

Merali, Z. (2010). “Atomic clocks use quantum timekeeping.” Scientific American. . Retrieved from www.scientificamerican.com/: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/atomic-clocks-use-quantum-time/.

Moss, S. (2023). “Sunspot mini-supercomputer launched as testbed for Aurora exascale system.” Data Center Dynamics. . Retrieved from www.datacenterdynamics.com/: https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/sunspot-mini-supercomputer-launched-as-testbed-for-aurora-exascale-system/.

National Security Agency. (n.d.). “Quantum key distribution (QKD) and quantum cryptography (QC).” . Retrieved from www.nsa.gov/: https://www.nsa.gov/cybersecurity/quantum-key-distribution-qkd-and-quantum-cryptography-qc/

O’Neill, I. (2022). “Space station to host ‘self-healing’ quantum communications tech demo.” NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. . Retrieved from www.nasa.gov/: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/space-station-to-host-self-healing-quantum-communications-tech-demo.

O’Neill, I. (2023). “NASA’s quantum detector achieves world-leading milestone.” NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. . Retrieved from www.jpl.nasa.gov/: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-quantum-detector-achieves-world-leading-milestone.

Papadopoulos, L. (2022). “Researchers invent first ever 3D quantum accelerometer for use in ships and submarines. ” Interesting Engineering. . Retrieved from interestingengineering.com/: https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/first-ever-3d-quantum-accelerometer

Rainbow, J. (2021). “All future Starlink satellites will have laser crosslinks.” SpaceNews. . Retrieved from spacenews.com/: https://spacenews.com/all-future-starlink-satellites-will-have-laser-crosslinks/.

Remmel, A. (2022). “What exascale computing could mean for chemistry.” Computational Chemistry 100 (31). . Retrieved from cen.acs.org/: https://cen.acs.org/physical-chemistry/computational-chemistry/exascale-computing-mean-chemistry/100/i31.

Savage, N. (2019). “Hands-on with Google’s quantum computer.” Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hands-on-with-googles-quantum-computer/. . Retrieved from Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hands-on-with-googles-quantum-computer/

Schauer, K. (2022). “NASA laser communications innovations: A timeline.” NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Retrieved from www.nasa.gov/: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/nasa-laser-communications-innovations-a-timeline.

Swayne, M. (2022). “BASF, PASQAL to use quantum computers for weather prediction.” The Quantum Insider. . Retrieved from thequantuminsider.com/: https://thequantuminsider.com/2022/07/20/basf-pasqal-to-use-quantum-computers-for-weather-prediction/.

Tavares, F. (2019). “Google and NASA achieve quantum supremacy.” NASA Ames Research Center. . Retrieved from www.nasa.gov/: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/ames/quantum-supremacy.

Van Amerongen, M. (2021, June 03). NATO Review: Opinion, Analysis and Debate on Security Issues: quantum-technologies-in-defence-security. Retrieved from https://www.nato.int/: https://www.nato.int/docu/review/articles/2021/06/03/quantum-technologies-in-defence-security/index.html.