This isn't exactly the kind of teleportation you are probably thinking of, like in popular science fiction media, but rather the transmission of information. Subatomic particles can have a state, known as spin (up or down). You can think of this as the binary we use to transmit information in computers. Two subatomic particles can be entangled, so that if one is affected, so is the other (in the opposite direction). This occurs instantly, no matter the distance (even if it were at the other side of the universe). However, first you would have to have a way to transport the particles where you would want them, then instant communication can be achieved.

For this experiment, they needed the first quantum satellite to be launched. This was done, after five years of development by the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS), in August, 2016. It launched in a Sun-synchronous orbit at around 500 kilometres altitude. It is called Micius, after a chinese philosopher that died in 391 BC. Below you can see the launch of the Long March vehicle carrying it off the pad.

To back the satellite and send entangled photons to it, China built a ground station at an altitude of over 4000 metres, in Nigari, Tibet. This ensures less atmospheric interference. This also means that the previously held record of about 100 kilometres (62 miles), has been extended by the team lead by Professor Jian-Wei Pan, to 500 km when the satellite is right overhead, and to about 1400 km when it is at the horizon, relative to the ground station. Entangled photons are generated at about 4000 per second, and sent one from each pair to the sensitive equipment on the satellite overhead. Both of them would be measured to see if the entanglement is still there, and in July, after sending millions into space, they have confirmed that the effect is indeed there in over 911 cases, in 32 days.

Information about this event has been mostly sourced from here.

Australia has been watching the events closely, as the Australian Space Agency, in partnership with the European Space Agency, are also developing their own quantum satellite. They are amazed that such incredible results have been achieved in less than a year and hope to match, or even surpass, it by 2021.

Could this be the start of instant secure communication? This can bring about yet another revolution in secure transactions, that might, one day, rival blockchain technology, as there is no way (that we know of at least) to hack entanglement. once a pair has been established, only those two particles can change the state of the other. This communication method, along with Blockstream validating Bitcoin transactions from space, could bring a new age of secure cryptographic transactions.

What are your thoughts? Is this cool or what? Will this rival current blockchain technology or work in concert with it to create a new way we communicate, or improve the existing one? Share you opinions below, along with any feedback you might have, it is greatly appreciated!

Thank you for reading, and keep on steemin'!

(clicking any image will take you to its source)