Quantum Entangles the Heavens

As the United States, Europe, and China compete to shape the future of the Earth-Moon corridor, strategic advantage will depend not only on launch capacity or lunar infrastructure, but also on advances in quantum technologies. Just as secure systems are critical on Earth, satellites and space-based systems underpin high-value, high-impact operations from financial transactions and navigation to scientific discovery and classified military missions.

Quantum technologies, which enable new levels of speed, sensitivity, and security, are emerging as critical tools to improve existing extraterrestrial systems. Modern digital communications are secured by encryption built on math problems that are extremely difficult for regular computers to solve, but that sufficiently advanced quantum computers could eventually crack. Quantum communications technologies could add a new layer of protection by making it easier to detect when someone is trying to intercept sensitive information. Quantum sensors can measure position and time with an accuracy that GPS only approximates. Lastly, quantum computers could unlock new capabilities beyond current computational limits, from designing advanced materials to optimizing increasingly complex satellite networks.

Countries are racing to match their space and quantum ambitions with national strategies. The White House is reportedly drafting an executive order to strengthen US competitiveness in quantum technologies. The rumored draft directs multiple US government bodies, including NASA, to develop a five-year roadmap to expand quantum sensing and networking capabilities. The EU’s 2025 Quantum Europe Strategy highlights “Space and Dual-Use Quantum Technologies” as one of its five strategic focuses, and China’s 15th Five-Year Plan has called for expanding the country’s ground-to-space quantum communications network. 

Quantum technologies have long seemed too technical and too distant for policymakers to prioritize, but that is now changing as key quantum applications have moved from theory to practice. As quantum matures, it is important to understand what these technologies are, and how they might shape the new space age.

Quantum Communications

Satellite communications are foundational to modern life, underpinning economic activity in peacetime and enabling resilient command, control, and battlefield coordination in war—as the conflict in Ukraine has made clear. Quantum communication technologies such as quantum key distribution (QKD) or post-quantum cryptography (PQC) could make these vital satellite networks even more secure. 

QKD seeks to improve traditional methods by creating an encryption key using properties of quantum physics such that any eavesdropping attempt inevitably leaves evidence, letting both parties know the key is no longer safe to use. Early investments have placed China ahead of the United States and Europe in deploying QKD satellite networks. China launched the first QKD-enabled satellite, Micius, in 2016, and had a national ground-to-space QKD network by 2025. By comparison, the European Space Agency (ESA) will launch the first satellite in its own QKD network, Eagle-1, in late 2026 or early 2027. Transatlantic firms are collaborating to deploy the technology: Colt (United Kingdom), Honeywell (United States), and Nokia (Finland) in June 2025 announced a joint trial of QKD for low-Earth-orbit satellites.

The United States, however, has been more cautious about adopting QKD, both in space and in general. The National Security Agency’s (NSA) guidance notes that QKD is expensive, difficult to scale, and has key technical limitations. Instead, the NSA recommends the use of PQC, which is software-based and therefore more cost-effective. PQC takes advantage of special cryptographic algorithms that classical computers can use to resist attacks by quantum computers. This push to adopt PQC reflects a high-level policy priority: The Trump administration’s March 2026 Cyber Strategy calls for broader adoption of PQC as part of a wider effort to modernize information systems. As this transition gains momentum, it is also reaching into the space domain, where European and US space companies are incorporating PQC into satellite systems. The Norwegian components producer EIDEL, for example, signed a contract with US defense contractor Lockheed Martin in March 2026 to implement PQC in its satellites.

Regardless of whether QKD or PQC is in the lead, the next generation of communication technologies will draw on quantum to improve capabilities and security.

Quantum Sensing

GPS is essential to modern civilian and military navigation, but it is vulnerable to jamming, spoofing, and signal loss. GPS was also built for users on or near Earth, not for deep-space travel. Spacecraft can use it in low Earth orbits, and sometimes beyond, but GPS signals grow weaker, sparser, and less useful as vehicles travel farther from Earth.

Certain quantum sensors could help enable navigation without it. Quantum sensors are a family of technologies that use the unusual properties of quantumphysics to measure time, motion, gravity, or magnetic fields with extraordinary precision. For navigation, quantum inertial sensors such as gyroscopes and accelerometers could help satellites or military platforms determine their position even when GPS is unavailable. They could be especially valuable in settings beyond GPS coverage entirely, such as deep space.

Governments recognize how valuable GPS-independent navigation would be on the battlefield and in the race to explore and develop outer space. Russia, China, and NATO are all investing in quantum-enabled navigation capabilities. The United States is also pursuing these capabilities in the space domain. In August 2025, the US Space Force tested a quantum inertial sensor aboard the re-usable X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle. The goal was to improve navigation for US space systems when GPS is unavailable or disrupted, and eventually to support future navigation beyond Earth orbit.

Quantum Computing

The European Space Agency expects that there will be roughly 100,000 satellites in orbit by 2030, meaning that in the coming years the number of human-made satellites is set to more than double. That will greatly increase the risk of satellites colliding in orbit, setting off a cascade as debris from those collisions damages other objects in orbit, causing potentially significant economic, operational, and security impacts. 

Quantum Computing could become an important tool for avoiding those collisions. While the technology is still in its early stages and is not quite ready for widespread adoption, it leverages quantum physics to solve certain mathematical problems more efficiently than classical computers can. For spacetrafficmanagement, quantum computers could improve the way we optimize logistics networks, including satellites. France’s Pasqal and Thales are already partnering to use quantum algorithms to optimize satellite mission scheduling.

A more theoretical future application is a space-based “quantum internet”: a network of quantum computers that could enable rapid, distributed data analysis across multiple quantum processors. Like the rise of classical supercomputers, such a network would provide a powerful tool for advanced calculations and simulations, accelerating scientific discovery. NASA took an early step in July 2024 by developing a quantum memory storage system intended to support that kind of architecture. For now, however, fully operational space-based quantum computing networks are a distant prospect; quantum systems are extremely sensitive, and the harsh conditions of space, including cosmic radiation and temperature swings, can disrupt the systems. 

Conclusion

In the next space age, power will rest not only in the hands of those who reach the moon first, but also in hands of those constructing the infrastructure required to make long-term operations in cislunar space sustainable and economical. Quantum technologies are becoming part of that architecture. Quantum communications could better protect satellite links, quantum sensing could help spacecraft navigate when GPS is unavailable, and quantum computing could improve the coordination of increasingly crowded orbital networks. For the United States and Europe, the challenge is not simply to invest in these tools, but to translate them into operational advantages before authoritarian competitors do.

The views expressed herein are those solely of the author(s). GMF as an institution does not take positions.