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It's one small step for a team of researchers and one quantum leap for China. On August 16, China successfully launched the world's first quantum communications satellite from a launch center in Gansu province. It's the first step in China's ambitious plan to build a worldwide quantum satellite network by 2030, and it could be used to send messages that are nearly impossible to hack.
团队一小步，中国一大步。8月16日，中国甘肃省发射中心成功发射了世界上第一颗量子通信卫星。这是中国立志于2030年之前建造一个世界范围内的量子卫星网络计划的第一步，而且用它发送信息几乎不可能被拦截。
The Quantum Science Satellite, or QSS, will be used to send a test message from Beijing to Vienna through quantum key distribution. This means that information will be stored and encrypted on tiny particles called photons, which will be beamed up to the satellite and back to earth.
量子科学卫星，简称QSS，将通过量子秘钥分配来发送从北京到维也纳的测试信息。也就是说信息将会被存储和加密在量子微粒上，并传送到卫星上，再返还至地球。
QSS is the creation of a team led by Pan Jianwei, a scholar at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Pan's team has been working on the satellite since 2011, and has also designed quantum communication cables in several Chinese cities.
量子科学卫星是由中国科学院学者潘建伟领导的团队发明的。潘建伟的团队自2011年就开始研究该卫星，并且在中国的几个城市中设计了量子通信电缆。
Why is information sent through quantum communication so hard to hack? The answer lies in the type of particles used for transmission. Professor Vladimir Makarov of the University of Waterloo says that traditional telecommunications, like phone calls, can be tapped because they use electrons to send information. Hackers can divert enough electrons to read a message without altering it. But the properties of a photon change as soon as they are measured, which means that trying to read information encoded on a photon will cause the message to self-destruct.
为什么通过量子通信发送的信息难以拦截？原因藏于用来传输的微粒类型上。滑铁卢大学的弗拉德米尔·马卡洛夫教授说，诸如电话这样的传统通讯方式会被侦测到，因为它是用电子来发送信息的。黑客可以转移足够的电子来阅读信息并且不会改变信息内容。但是量子只要一受到干扰，其性能就会改变，这就意味着试图阅读在量子上加密的信息只会让它自毁。
If the transmission is successful, Chinese physicists plan to use the satellite to set up secure communications between Beijing and Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang.
传输如果成功，中国物理学家计划用该卫星来建立北京和新疆省会乌鲁木齐之间的安全通信系统。
Although Western scientists have also been working to develop quantum communications technology, they have been frustrated by budget cuts and red tape, helping China take the lead. In a stroke of national pride, Pan and his team nicknamed the satellite "Micius" after an ancient Chinese philosopher who theorized that the universe was made of particles.
虽然西方科学家也一直致力于研发量子通信技术，但是他们总是遭遇预算削减和官僚作风的阻碍，让中国占了先机。沉浸在民族自豪感中，潘建伟和他的团队用中国古代哲学家的名字“墨子”给这颗卫星起了绰号，正是他提出了宇宙是由量子组成的理论。
Wang Jianyu, who co-led the satellite team, said China "has been trailing the footsteps of others for more than a century" in scientific and aerospace technology. But the launch of QSS has propelled China ahead of the pack by quantum leaps and bounds.
该团队的共同领导者王建宇说，中国在科技和航天技术领域“一个多世纪以来都是跟随着别人的脚步”。但是量子科学卫星的发射让中国遥遥领先于其他国家。
译文属可可英语原创，未经允许，不得转载。
