Teleportation across space, at the quantum level, has already become a reality. Last month, Chinese researchers demonstrated teleportation between Earth by sending a photon to space using photon teleportation.

The experiment was conducted between Micius (the Chinese quantum satellite) and a ground station. The researchers were able to transfer the unknown quantum state from one photon here on Earth to another one in space.

Extreme measures are required to teleport all the properties of a particle (it’s quantum state) and reality is much less glamorous than what Star Trek have to lead us to believe!

The success of this experiment is crucial as quantum teleportation is a key requirement to create a quantum internet that allows quantum computers to communicate between themselves. At a fraction of the size, quantum computers are computers that use the laws of quantum mechanics to perform calculations faster than the best supercomputer.

Quantum communication uses the principle of entanglement, where two particles can influence each other instantaneously no matter the distance. If you entangled particles, their quantum state is then shared. Although entanglement is very useful, it is extremely fragile and can the quantum state can easily break — and the particles go back to being individuals. This is the reason it’s been so difficult to send these quantum states for more than 100 km (62 m) over air or fibre optics.

In order to create a truly global network for quantum communication, this research shows that quantum satellites will be needed.

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