SpeQtral partners with Antaris to deploy a space-based Quantum Secure Software Sandbox to validate technology to be used in building global Quantum Secure Networks

SpeQtral, a company based in Singapore that develops Quantum secure technologies and Antaris, a space start-up based in Silicon Valley that provides a software-defined satellite platform, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to host SpeQtral’s Space-based Quantum-Secure Software Sandbox on Antaris’ Technology Demonstrator satellite mission. The collaboration will support the development and validation of quantum secure communication technologies, with applications in both space and terrestrial networks.  

This mission will provide an opportunity for Antaris to test its ground-breaking Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform for next-gen satellite systems. The microservices based platform with digital engineering and digital twinning capabilities with spacecraft on orbit enables truly agile satellite design, build and management.

In turn, this mission will provide SpeQtral a platform to validate its PQC (Post Quantum Cryptography) and QKD (Quantum Key Distribution) software stacks and communication protocols in advance of its future satellite mission.

Mr. Lum Chun Yang, CEO of SpeQtral, speaking at the signing of the MoU said, “While the rise of quantum computing holds great promise, it also introduces an existential threat in the form of compromised data security, what some have dubbed the “quantum apocalypse”. Today, secure data communications are achieved by Public Key Encryption (PKE), a data encryption regime that relies on the difficulty of factoring, i.e., the math of breaking down large numbers into prime numbers. Quantum computers make quick work of mathematical based encryption techniques, rendering communication networks and data reliant on such regimes wide open to exploitation. SpeQtral is developing technologies, based on quantum effects that leverage the laws of physics, rather than mathematics to secure existing and future communication networks.  SpeQtral’s vision is to build the framework for a global quantum secure network, which includes both terrestrial and space elements. Our partnership with Antaris provides us fantastic opportunity to rapidly prototype and validate space-based quantum software technologies, leveraging Antaris’s unique platform”.

Speaking at the signing of the MOU, co-founder and Chief Product and Revenue Officer of Antaris, Mr. Shankar Sivaprakasam said, “We are thrilled to be partnering with an innovative quantum-secure communications company out of Singapore to first validate their software stack as a massless payload on our demonstrator launch in Q3 2022 and after that to assist SpeQtral with their future plans. The proposed quantum secure software sandbox in space is potentially a world first, and it is exciting for Antaris to enable such an innovation“.

SpeQtral. (https://www.speqtral.space). There is a tremendous need for robust technologies and systems that can handle the significant security challenges posed by quantum computing innovation. Supported by a world-class, multidisciplinary team of quantum scientists, cryptographers and engineers, SpeQtral is on a mission to secure the world’s networks for the fast-approaching quantum revolution.

Antaris Inc. (https://www.antaris.space), is a Silicon Valley company, with presence in Singapore as Antaris Space Pte Ltd., offering a software-defined satellite platform to ease the design and build of satellites, the integration of payloads, and their operation and management on-orbit – all from a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform and an accompanying trusted marketplace for bill of materials and services.

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