China’s Latest Leap Forward Isn’t Just Great — It’s Quantum

Beijing prepares to launch the world’s first quantum-communications satellite into orbit

By Josh Chin, WSJ
Updated Aug. 15, 2016 10:29 a.m. ET

BEIJING—A rocket scheduled to take flight from the Gobi Desert within days is expected to propel China to the forefront of one of science’s most challenging fields.

It also is set to launch Beijing far ahead of its global rivals in the drive to acquire a highly coveted asset in the age of cyberespionage: hack-proof communications.

Chinese state media on Monday said preparations were nearly complete to send the world’s first quantum communications satellite into orbit from a launch center in Inner Mongolia. Five years in the making, the project is being closely watched in global scientific and security circles.

The quantum program is the latest part of China’s multibillion-dollar strategy over the past two decades to draw even with or surpass the West in hard-sciences research.

(More here.)