Thales Alenia Space and Hispasat have secured significant funding for a revolutionary project: a geostationary payload utilizing quantum technology for distributing encryption keys. This two-year initiative, backed by €104 million in European COVID-19 recovery funds, will create the first quantum key distribution (QKD) platform operating from geostationary orbit (GEO).
The project, known as QKD-GEO, builds upon prior work in low Earth orbit (LEO), such as the SES-led Eagle-1 project (currently aiming for a late 2025/early 2026 launch). QKD leverages the unique properties of photons to generate encryption keys impossible to intercept without detection. Any attempt at eavesdropping alters the photons' quantum state, making the keys unusable.
While terrestrial fiber-optic networks can distribute quantum keys, their range is severely limited by signal loss. Current technology struggles beyond a few hundred kilometers. Satellites offer a solution, as signals experience far less attenuation in free space. A single geostationary satellite at 36,786 kilometers provides continuous communication between continents without complex signal tracking.
Hispasat CEO Miguel Panduro stated, “the establishment of encryption keys through a quantum protocol is going to represent a paradigm shift in the secure communications of the future, where space and satellites will be configured as the ideal infrastructure for their transmission over long distances.” Hispasat, alongside Thales Alenia Space, previously conducted a feasibility study for this mission in 2022. The QKD-GEO contract includes developing the payload's associated ground segment and plans to host the payload on a Hispasat satellite.