A Quantum-Enabled Space Economy: What Is That?

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Quantum computing has to do with subatomic particles being used to perform calculations much faster than conventional computers, to put it very simply. If the quantum activities are conducted in space, along with other computing and research activities, such unique endeavors may turn out to have rather high yields, although at this very moment they might be theoretical in nature, or at least not yet perfectly proven in the most practical terms that everyday people here on Earth have some kind of day-to-day connection with. Still, they are fascinating and tantalizing.

One of the privileges of interviewing people who are smarter and more knowledgeable is to be able to submit questions to them and actually get answers instead of wondering to myself and never getting to interact with people in such fields. This topic was also actually selected by Zach, so hat tip to him, as well.

Rima Kasia Oueid, Senior Commercialization Executive from the Department of Energy, Office of Technology Transitions, answered some questions for CleanTechnica and I am grateful.

What is the Quantum in Space collaboration and what are its potential benefits?

We are pursuing a quantum-enabled space economy for the revitalization of Earth. I will elaborate on this later in a subsequent answer.

As part of the Quantum Space Collaboration (“Collaboration”), we are connecting with experts both within and outside of the federal government who have experience and interest in research, development, deployment, and commercialization activities related to quantum computing, quantum sensing, and secure quantum communications. These efforts support energy security, energy optimization, advanced energy, resource exploration, and manufacturing in space. Enabling technologies such as lasers, space vehicles, and automation are also being evaluated.

This collaboration will support our mission to achieve energy dominance and energy security, and to ignite disruptive innovation. Combining the development of the quantum economy and space economy may accelerate our goals by allowing us to leverage the benefits of quantum technologies in microgravity.

For example, in NASA’s Cold Atom Lab on the International Space Station, where atoms can reach extremely low temperatures, quantum particles have been observed to behave differently and exhibit more prominent quantum characteristics due to microgravity. In addition, we are discovering synergies between the quantum and space economies that will accelerate disruptive innovation and build new markets.

We plan to integrate the Department of Energy’s (DOE) unique capabilities, including those of its National Laboratories. The DOE is already collaborating with our sister agencies such as the Department of Defense (DOD) and NASA, and we can serve as a bridge to collaborate with private entities and the DOE national labs. Through this collaboration, we seek to leverage the experience, technical capabilities, infrastructure, resources, and expertise of each party to provide technical development, including the technical and economic validation of quantum technologies in space.

Boeing, Axiom Space, USRA, Vescent, and Qrypt are signatories. What will they do and how will you work with them?

Through the collaboration, we plan to bring together public and private sector experts in quantum computing, quantum sensing, and secure quantum communications to support energy security, energy optimization, advanced energy, resource exploration, and manufacturing in space. Additionally, we are collaborating with our sister agencies to find synergies where we can coordinate and leverage our collective resources.

The Department of Energy (DOE) may establish project working groups to identify where subject matter expert engagement is needed regarding the collaboration, provide information, gather requirements, and work together to execute the Quantum Space Collaboration. These working groups will comprise senior DOE employees and may include DOE National Laboratory employees, as well as senior employees from our sister agencies, such as NASA and the Department of Defense (DOD). Where appropriate, these groups will build on already established relationships among the participants. The working groups may invite Federal or non-Federal participants on an individual, occasional basis to attend working group meetings for the purpose of DOE receiving information individually from non-Federal participants. Non-Federal participants will not be involved in any decision-making process, but we do plan to publicly share insights and information as appropriate. We may host webinars and workshops to further our learning and understanding of what is feasible and identify gaps.

Infleqtion, Accenture, and Nebula are also signatories. These signatories are already independently engaged with the federal government or the DOE labs to apply quantum technologies and/or worked in space. Some have previously licensed technology from the DOE labs or have cooperative agreements.  Through this collaboration, we will gain a better understanding and insight into what these companies are doing across the government. This will help the federal government identify synergies and opportunities to coordinate and share lessons learned or best practices, making the application of quantum technologies in space more efficient, deliberate, and demonstrate commercial viability.

How can a quantum-enabled space economy help the Earth?

I love this question! There are so many ways a quantum-enabled space economy can benefit Earth.

Research indicates that nuclear fusion may be more feasible in space than on Earth. This is due to the advantages of a low-to-no gravity environment combined with better plasma confinement in the vacuum of space. Using space-based operating environments eliminates multiple challenges to achieving sustained fusion reactions on Earth. We may explore fusion in space in the future.

The Department of Defense (DOD) is interested in placing data centers in space to support their mission, which is what triggered our collaboration with them on quantum technologies. Data centers in space will require cybersecurity, power sources, energy and transport security and optimization, and space vehicle development. Quantum sensing and quantum communications/networking could play an instrumental role in securing these data centers, detecting anomalies, providing situational awareness, and enabling precise imaging.  If we develop the infrastructure and power to support data centers in space, then at some point, it may also make sense to put quantum computers in space and deploy hybrid systems. It is feasible that these data centers may be powered by fusion or solar energy. In the future, we may decide it is best to migrate some civilian data centers into space as well, which could alleviate energy grid concerns raised by emerging demand from AI and electric vehicles. A more elegant and sustainable architecture may involve processing AI in hybrid quantum data centers in space while freeing up terrestrial energy sources to power everything else.

Also, quantum sensors could offer enhanced imaging capability and protection from space to protect Earth’s energy grid and critical infrastructure. For example, from space we could detect wildfires in remote regions before reaching population centers, allowing more time to prevent destruction. 

We are finding that microgravity provides many benefits, especially in advanced materials development. NASA is already growing high-quality, efficient, low-defect crystals in space for semiconductors, thin-film blueprints for protein-based artificial retinas, and advanced fiber optics that use a fraction of the energy consumed by current fiber optics. These advanced fiber optics, known as ZBLAN, may be used for grid modernization, as well as enhanced quantum networking and quantum sensing applications. We are already discovering high-value products we could manufacture in space that could not be manufactured on Earth due to gravity. Such products have applications back on Earth, as well as in space, but the primary markets would be Earth-based in the near term. Space-based manufacturing facilities will need more power, secure quantum communications and quantum sensing to support their applications. Quantum computing will also accelerate materials discovery. In addition, we may find that some quantum computers perform better in space due to microgravity, but this is still theoretical.

Solar power technologies were first demonstrated during the space race of the 1960s. Material engineering in space coupled with quantum technologies may help us improve solar capabilities at performance levels we could not have achieved on Earth. 

With manufacturing in space within reach, we also see opportunities to conduct resource exploration and extraction in space. Extraterrestrial mining could support not only manufacturing in space but also the delivery of critical materials to Earth. We really do mean the “revitalization of Earth.” Space contains most of the minerals on the U.S. critical minerals list. We can find minerals, such as helium-3, uranium, platinum metals for batteries, germanium, gallium, nickel, cobalt, gold, and rhodium, for semiconductors, solar cells, and transistors. We can mine some of these minerals on the Moon or asteroids, and someday on Mars. SpaceX’s Starship is designed to carry over 100 tons to low Earth Orbit (LEO) and may be ready for missions as soon as next year. The terrestrial mining industry is already evaluating these opportunities and working with the federal government to advance resource exploration in space and apply quantum technologies. Quantum sensing will be key for identifying minerals, as well as providing position, navigation, and timing necessary for operations, and there are already commercially available quantum sensors to do this. We may even discover new elements! One asteroid could be worth over a trillion dollars. The space economy in 2022 was worth $386 billion. By 2040, it is expected to grow to $1 trillion. These estimates did not factor in the benefits of quantum technologies, which could accelerate our capabilities.

As a side note, another interesting mineral in space is basalt. An apple today contains only a fraction of the minerals and nutrients an apple contained in the 1920s. Fertilizer has been phenomenal for growing food so we have large fruits and vegetables, but it cannot sufficiently replenish the minerals lost to long-term farming. Regenerative farming is great, but hard to keep up with population growth. To adequately feed 8 billion-plus people in the world, we need to introduce minerals. Mining basalt in space would mitigate the need to mine the ocean floor on Earth, which would be incredibly disruptive to marine ecosystems. Space mining could help make farming land more efficient, productive, and valuable, providing more nutritious food to the general population.

The pharmaceutical industry is also conducting significant experiments as briefly mentioned above with the artificial retina example supported by NASA. They see numerous promising results that could reduce cancer therapy from years to months or days because microgravity can accelerate the growth and precision of molecules and tissues. These types of efficiencies and increased precision are transferable to other industrial applications that may even reduce energy demand.

Needless to say, we have extraordinary evidence that space and quantum will offer tremendous benefits to Earth-based economies  but more needs to be done. We just need to ask the right questions, build the right partnerships, and provide enough support to make this a reality. Our only limits are the limits of our creativity and the will to conduct business in space to not only protect Earth, but to also make new discoveries to reduce resource scarcity on Earth.        

Would such an economy include international collaboration?

We do not have near term plans to involve international collaborations.

Is it possible for quantum operations to be conducted in space with space solar power as the energy source?

As discussed above, this is possible. This is especially true for quantum sensors and parts of the quantum communications network which may have lower power needs than a quantum computer. In the long term, we may uncover advanced material capability through our quantum space manufacturing research and scale solar to support significantly larger loads in space such as data centers.

What is the time frame for developing a quantum space economy and what might be some key milestones?

We have already started the process across the federal government. The quantum race to space is on!