Overview
- University of Technology Sydney researchers report in Physical Review Research that an Earth-to-LEO uplink using entanglement swapping appears viable in simulation.
- The concept fires single photons from two separate ground stations to interfere at a satellite about 500 kilometers up moving roughly 20,000 kilometers per hour.
- The model includes background light, lunar reflections, atmospheric scattering, and pointing imperfections yet still meets interference and timing requirements.
- Uplinks would shift photon generation to the ground, leaving satellites with compact interferometry payloads that could lower costs and raise bandwidth for quantum networks.
- The team cautions that operation would likely be limited to nighttime with careful calibration and proposes drone or balloon trials before satellite demonstrations, building on prior downlink milestones such as Micius and the 12,900-kilometer Jinan‑1 link.