On July 27, 2022, China launched the Jinan-1 quantum microsatellite into a 500-km sun-synchronous orbit. Developed by the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) with support from the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites of CAS, the satellite represented a major miniaturization advance over the 2016 Micius satellite.
As described in research published on arXiv, the microsatellite payload weighed approximately 23 kilograms, a reduction exceeding an order of magnitude compared to the Micius satellite’s approximately 250 kg payload. The portable optical ground stations weighed about 100 kilograms, down from roughly 13,000 kg. The work was supported by Jinan Innovation Zone and multiple national funding programs including the Key R&D Plan of Shandong Province and the National Key Research and Development Program.
USTC told the Xinhua News Agency that the satellite was one-sixth the mass of its predecessor, marking a step toward building a constellation of quantum-encryption-compatible satellites.