The Center for Quantum Science and Technology at Tel Aviv University has inaugurated the first ground station in Israel for tracking satellites, and it is among the most advanced in the world. The project, which is supported by the Israel Space Agency at the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, includes a tracking station that will be used by government and commercial entities from Israel and around the world who want to check the health of their satellites in orbit. But this is only the beginning. In the long run, the station is intended to prove the technological feasibility of optical communication, and later also of quantum optical communication, with satellites – a technology that is expected to create a fundamental change in the rules of the game of encryption, from the level of communication between financial and military entities, to the level of the WhatsApp messages we send.
The ground station includes a 4.25-meter satellite observatory dome, a tracking system, a primary high-speed camera and secondary cameras, lasers, a single photon detector and a tracking robot that allows two telescopes to be carried simultaneously. At this stage, the robot carries a 61 cm telescope, and soon a second telescope will be added to it, intended for infrared photography, purchased with the support of the Israel Space Agency.
The Center for Quantum Science and Technology at Tel Aviv University has inaugurated the first ground station in Israel for tracking satellites, and it is among the most advanced in the world. The project, which is supported by the Israel Space Agency at the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, includes a tracking station that will be used by government and commercial entities from Israel and around the world who want to check the health of their satellites in orbit. But this is only the beginning. In the long run, the station is intended to prove the technological feasibility of optical communication, and later also of quantum optical communication, with satellites – a technology that is expected to create a fundamental change in the rules of the game of encryption, from the level of communication between financial and military entities, to the level of the WhatsApp messages we send.
The ground station includes a 4.25-meter satellite observatory dome, a tracking system, a primary high-speed camera and secondary cameras, lasers, a single photon detector and a tracking robot that allows two telescopes to be carried simultaneously. At this stage, the robot carries a 61 cm telescope, and soon a second telescope will be added to it, intended for infrared photography, purchased with the support of the Israel Space Agency.
Fully robust encryption
"The Holy Grail of the project is the establishment of quantum optical communication between the ground station and space," says femto-nano research laboratory head Prof. Haim Suchowsky. "But in order to reach the Holy Grail, we have to go through three preliminary stages: optically tracking a satellite in orbit, establishing optical communication with a satellite, and establishing quantum communication here in the air – between two buildings here at the university, between the ground station and a drone, and between the ground station and a drone. Only then can the quantum properties of the light be combined for quantum communication with satellites in space."
Quantum communication uses quantum entangled photons to transmit a key that encrypts information. According to the principles of quantum mechanics, any attempt by a third party to receive or copy the information will destroy entanglement and thus disrupt the signal – exposing the hacking attempt to both communicating parties.
"Most information traffic today, for example between banks or WhatsApp, is encrypted using the RSA protocol," explains Prof. Oz, head of the Center for Quantum Science and Technology. The encryption key in RSA is not secret, it is simply a very complex mathematical problem that a regular computer can take a long time to solve – and in that time the key is replaced. A quantum computer has the potential to crack RSA encryption in a matter of moments, so there is a real risk of hacking databases in the future. In quantum communication, the key is a completely immune key, it exists only between us, and a third party can't use it or duplicate it."
In fact, quantum communication already exists. So, for example, banks in Switzerland transmit information between them through quantum communication, but with the help of optical fibers – which are limited due to the fading of the signal to a range of about 200 km. China did network a fiber-based quantum network from Beijing to Shanghai, over 1,000 km away – but with the help of complex relay stations that produce a lot of environmental noise that damages the signal and could be interpreted as an attempt to listen to it.
"It is practically impossible to deploy fiber optics securely between all parties who want to transfer encrypted information between them," says Prof. Oz. "So, the major challenge is to establish quantum communication that can be realized through the space medium. In 2016, China became the first, and so far, only, country to report success in doing so, when it demonstrated quantum communication between a ground station and a satellite. We're aiming for the same goal."
The satellite project and the ground station are shared by many Tel Aviv University faculty members, including Prof. Ofer Amrani, who served as the project’s head of research, Head of the Femto-Nano Research Laboratory Prof. Haim Suchowsky, Prof. Meir Ariel, as well as doctoral students and students engaged in research and development of satellite systems: Dr. Dolev Bashi, Idan Finkelstein, Michael Zukran, Ofir Cohen, David Greenberg, Barak Levy, Alon Haramati, On Rengingad, Ofir Yaffe, Shahar Morag, Uri Dagan, Elad Sagi and Orly Blumberg.
