A defence-focused PocketQube mission designed to mature and validate secure, space-based quantum communications capabilities for national security applications.
DragonSat advances defence-grade quantum communications by validating critical quantum optics subsystems in orbit. Built on a 1.5P PocketQube platform, the mission characterises quantum state stability, photon integrity, and system resilience under real orbital conditions — directly supporting trusted-node quantum satellite architectures for defence and government users.
A pioneering PocketQube mission advancing secure, space-based quantum communications for national security and defence applications.
DragonSat validates quantum optics subsystems in real orbital conditions to assess performance well beyond the laboratory.
The mission characterises quantum state stability and photon integrity to support reliable, secure data transmission.
Flight results directly inform defence-grade quantum satellite architectures and trusted-node communications networks.
The payload prepares, transmits, and measures quantum states with high precision within PocketQube constraints.
Onboard processing supports secure data handling and real-time performance assessment, while a resilient power subsystem ensures continuous operation. Results directly inform the design of sovereign, trusted-node quantum systems for secure national communications infrastructure.
DragonSat carries a mission-critical power subsystem built for secure, sustained operation.
Triple-junction GaAs panels reach ~30% efficiency generating ~1 W, while a 1000 mAh Li-Po/Li-Ion battery (~3.7 Wh) provides reliable storage. The PDU delivers regulated 3.3 V and 5 V rails, and integrated MPPT optimises energy harvesting for long-duration, contested-environment operations.
DragonSat is a quantum optics laboratory miniaturised into a 1.5P PocketQube. Its job is to prove, in real orbital conditions, that the building blocks of secure quantum communications survive and perform in space.
The payload's source generates single photons and encodes them in precisely known quantum states, the raw material of quantum-secure communication.
Photons travel through a compact optical path and state analyser, reproducing in miniature the journey a quantum signal makes in a real communications link.
Detectors record every arrival. Comparing what was sent with what was measured reveals quantum state stability and photon integrity under radiation, thermal cycling and microgravity.
Onboard processing on a fault-tolerant Cortex-M4 / RISC-V computer packages the measurements, which are downlinked over a 1.2 kb/s UHF link to inform the design of defence-grade trusted-node systems.
Quantum communications promise security grounded in physics rather than mathematics. But a technology that works on a laboratory bench has to be proven in space before defence and government users can depend on it.
Much of today's secure communication relies on public-key cryptography whose strength rests on mathematical problems that a sufficiently powerful quantum computer is expected to break. Adversaries can already harvest encrypted traffic now and decrypt it later. Quantum key distribution offers a route to keys whose security does not depend on computational difficulty.
Photons sent through optical fibre are gradually absorbed, which limits fibre-based quantum links to a few hundred kilometres without trusted intermediate nodes. Satellites overcome this by relaying quantum signals through the vacuum of space, making them the practical path to national and international quantum-secure networks.
Radiation, extreme temperature swings, vibration at launch and tight power budgets all degrade delicate quantum optics. DragonSat measures exactly how state stability and photon integrity hold up under those stresses, generating flight data that simulations and ground tests cannot fully provide.
A PocketQube is one of the smallest and most affordable ways to reach orbit. By validating quantum subsystems on a low-cost platform first, DragonSat de-risks the larger quantum missions that follow and shortens the path to operational sovereign capability.
DragonSat is a small spacecraft with a large purpose: laying the flight-proven foundations for the UK's secure, space-based quantum networks, developed by a UK-based space company working alongside defence innovators, research institutions and strategic partners.
DragonSat unites defence innovators, research institutions, and strategic partners to push the boundaries of secure, space-based quantum communications. Built for experiments in entanglement and coherence within microgravity, it generates the insights that advance encrypted quantum networks — laying the foundation for next-generation space-based communications that enhance national security and strategic advantage.
DragonSat runs on an ARM Cortex-M4 / RISC-V microcontroller paired with an RTOS, supporting I²C, SPI, UART and GPIO for secure control. Watchdog timers and reset mechanisms maintain uninterrupted operation in the harsh, contested conditions of space.
DragonSat supports the future of secure, defence-grade communications by reducing technical risk and advancing resilient quantum communication capabilities for government and defence applications.
