A Long March-2D carrier rocket blasts off at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Dec. 2008 in Gansu Province. (Photo : Getty Images)
China's first ever hack-proof quantum satellite "Micius" has successfully sent data back to Earth, two days after it was launched into orbit through a Long March-2D rocket.
State-run Xinhua News Agency reported on Friday how the first data from the quantum-powered satellite named after the fifth century B.C. Chinese scientist and philosopher Micius was received at the China Remote Sensing Satellite Ground Station (RSGS).
The information from the Micius satellite arrived at around 11:56 a.m. local time at the RSGS in Miyun located on the outskirts of the Chinese capital, Beijing.
According to the outlet, the data was estimated to be about 202 megabytes and was immediately transferred to the National Space Science Center (NSSC), China's version of NASA.
There was no word on what the data contains but China appears to be keeping it a secret, something that information-hungry hackers could drool on for decades for the satellite was said to be hack-proof, thanks to the quantum key encryption technology.
According to New Atlas, such technology is gradually becoming one of the most sought-after methods of transferring critical and confidential information because of its ultra-secure feature that rebuffs any attempt of interception.
As the first to use it, China is now leading the race towards the space age and proves that the Middle Kingdom is no longer a follower in information technology.
"The newly-launched satellite marks a transition in China's role - from a follower in classic information technology (IT) development to one of the leaders guiding future IT achievements," Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Quantum Experiments at Space Scale (QUESS) project chief scientist Pan Jianwei explained.
After it was launched on Wednesday via a Long March-2D rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, the quantum satellite Micius is orbiting the Earth's atmosphere from about 100 kilometers or 62 miles at around the speed of 8 kilometers per second.
