A team of Chinese scientists has successfully teleported a particle to a satellite in space.
As Time reports, the scientists sent a photon nearly 300 miles to a satellite orbiting Earth, which is the farthest recorded distance for quantum teleportation trials thus far. The Tibetan team had been teleporting scores of photons up from their laboratory for roughly a month, of which 900 trials were successful.
Although quantum teleportation may sound like something out of a science-fiction film, the science behind the process is far from fiction. In fact, the entire process is based around the idea that quantum information— i.e. the state of an atom, photon or other particle— can be transmitted from one location to another by means of entangled communications between the sending and receiving locations.
Though the first successful quantum teleportation experiment occurred only a year ago, this latest success prompts many in the field of quantum physics and teleportation to believe that this could open the door for more advancements and achievements to be made— including some that could make a globally-accessible quantum-transmitted Internet service possible.
Top photo courtesy of Skye D./Flickr, CC BY-ND 2.0
Natalie Wickstrom is a freelance writer based in Athens, Georgia. She most likely wrote this piece to the tune of a movie score whilst chewing gum.