QEYSSat: The future of secure communications in Canada

In 2026, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) plans to launch a mission to help Canada develop the secure communications infrastructure it needs for the future. To help accomplish this, the CSA's Quantum Encryption and Science Satellite (QEYSSat) mission will demonstrate quantum key distribution technology in space, a quantum technology that creates virtually unbreakable encryption codes, a vital step toward developing a truly secure communications infrastructure to allow data to travel safely over long distances.

Through its High-throughput and Secure Networks (HTSN) Challenge program, the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) is contributing scientific expertise and funding support to several projects that complement the QEYSSat mission.

Building an optical quantum ground station

Through the HTSN Challenge program, the NRC has partnered with the CSA on an optical quantum ground station (OQGS) for a satellite communications technology demonstration project to develop, design, build, commission and demonstrate an OQGS system that efficiently combines optical full-duplex communication functionality with quantum uplink functionality. The OQGS system will be compatible with the QEYSSat mission flight segment and thus serve as a quantum ground station for demonstrating QEYSSat mission requirements and other project goals.

Project objectives

1. Establish secure communication via a quantum key distribution uplink between the OQGS and the QEYSSat satellite in accordance with the QEYSSat mission objectives, performed in the first year of its operations
2. High-throughput optical downlink demonstration or communication experiments, performed either before QEYSSat launch in conjunction with a third party in-orbit demonstration or during the second year of QEYSSat operations, and onwards if applicable
3. Contribute to QEYSSat mission goals, including secure communications networking via quantum key distribution between the OQGS, the ground network and the QEYSSat satellite, performed during the second year of QEYSSat operations

Establishing German–Canadian quantum communication satellite interfaces (GCQUSAT)

This study will investigate interfaces and systems for quantum communication satellites, with 2 main research thrusts.

The first is to prepare the groundwork for a link from a quantum ground station (QGS) to the anticipated QEYSSat mission at 3 ground station sites:

• The University of Waterloo's quantum ground station (QGS–UW)
• The DLR-operated quantum ground station (QGS–OGSOP)
• The primary quantum ground station at the CSA site in Saint-Hubert, Quebec (QGS–SHUB)

Work at QGS–SHUB and QGS–UW will include: defining optical interfaces and operational modes, analyzing transmitter beam quality and wavefronts, establishing data exchange procedures, defining a channel metrology setup and specifying ground-based sources and networks. In parallel, DLR will conduct theoretical research on channel characterization at QGS–OGSOP.

The second thrust is to conduct atmospheric channel and site characterizations to study light pollution and how the atmosphere affects the quantum channel at QGS–SHUB and QGS–UW. This will lay the groundwork for the possibility of connecting combinations of these sites in the future.