Scientists say China in leading position in space technology

China successfully launched the world's first quantum communication satellite earlier this week and the feat proves that China is playing a leading role in terms of space technology, experts here say.

Early Tuesday morning, the world's first quantum satellite, nicknamed "Micius" after an ancient Chinese philosopher, lifted off by a Long March 2-D rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China's northwest Gansu Province.

After three months of in-orbit testing, the satellite is expected to start "hack-proof" quantum communications by transmitting uncrackable keys from space to the ground.

Kubatbek Tekeshov, head of the department of information and communication technology in Kyrgyz State University of Construction, Transport and Architecture, said that scientists in several countries are working on quantum communication technologies, but China's successful launch of the world's first quantum communication satellite showed that

the country is indeed a front-runner in this field.

The successful launch of Micius marked a watershed moment whereby quantum communication is no longer a theory, but a reality, he said.

"With the help of quantum we have the opportunity to move particles. Now the scientific community can confidently say that China has made a great leap forward, and opened a new era for all mankind," Tekeshov said.

Meanwhile, Kubatbek Talypov, chief of the physics laboratory in Kyrgyzstan's National Academy of Sciences, told Xinhua that the world has been very attentive to what China has achieved in terms of quantum communication as they know very well such a satellite will "allow us to see what we can't see before." Endi