The European Space Agency (ESA) and Spanish satellite operator Hispasat have signed an agreement to initiate Q-Design, a hybrid quantum key distribution (QKD) project that integrates geostationary (GEO), low-Earth orbit (LEO), and terrestrial QKD channels into a unified, secure communication service. The agreement, announced at the Paris Air Show 2025, represents the first global effort to combine QKD delivery across GEO and LEO segments.
Q-Design is being developed by a 15-member European consortium spanning satellite providers (SES, S4, SpeQtral), manufacturers (Thales Alenia Space, GMV, Indra), academic institutes (ICFO, UPM), infrastructure operators (Cellnex, Telefónica), financial end-users (BBVA, Santander), and certification authorities (CCN-CNI). The current feasibility study—supported by ESA’s Directorate of Connectivity and Secure Communications—focuses on evaluating system architecture, satellite-ground integration, and operational models for user-driven quantum secure communication services.
Unlike previous space QKD efforts which typically focus on one orbit type, Q-Design’s hybrid model introduces dynamic routing of quantum keys across orbital and terrestrial infrastructures based on reliability and latency conditions. A GEO QKD component will be developed by Hispasat, while LEO coverage is expected to leverage the SES-led EAGLE-1 infrastructure. The next development phase will be financed by the Spanish Space Agency (AEE) under ESA’s ARTES-4S programme.
This initiative aligns with broader efforts to future-proof critical communications against quantum decryption risks by building scalable, interoperable, and crypto-agile secure communication architectures. The Q-Design platform is also viewed as an early enabler of the future quantum internet.
Read the announcement from Hispasat here and additional context from Jaime Gómez García on LinkedIn here.
June 18, 2025
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