ESA’s quantum satellite to be built by Redwire to advance ultra-secure communications for Europe

02 Apr 2026

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Quantum Key Distribution Satellite (QKDSat) spacecraft will be provided by Redwire, in Belgium, to accelerate the development of ultra-secure communication infrastructure in space. This announcement is part of a larger contract awarded to a consortium led by Honeywell UK, in September 2025.

QKDSat, a project under ESA’s Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems (ARTES) Partnership Projects programme, responds to ESA’s Member States’ need for resilient, secure and sovereign communications. The project aims to provide quantum key distribution capabilities via satellite to help safeguard against communication data breaches. QKD makes use of photons to generate truly random encryption keys and distribute them to relevant parties. Due to its sensitivity, the system is capable of detecting interference from attempts to intercept the quantum encryption key and immediately cease distribution to maintain security. Using satellites for this purpose will allow QKD implementation over long distances, overcoming a notable limitation of ground-based QKD systems. Redwire will manufacture and deliver the spacecraft, based on its Hammerhead platform and supported by its advanced ADPMS-3 avionics suite. In addition, the company will design the mission-critical QKD payload that will work alongside the optical terminals developed by Honeywell Canada.

“With QKDSat, we will take a leading role in ensuring resilient and secure commercial and governmental communications across our Member States, particularly against a backdrop of ever-increasing cyber threats. We look forward to collaborating closely with Redwire and partners as we utilise their high-class expertise to deliver the future of satellite communications,” said Laurent Jaffart, Director of Resilience, Navigation and Connectivity at ESA.

“Quantum secure communications is critical to the future of European autonomy. We are proud to leverage Redwire’s expertise in spacecraft development and avionics to support QKDSat,” said Marc Dielissen, Executive Vice President of Redwire Europe. “Satellite quantum key distribution enables truly global, long-distance secure communication, overcoming the range limitations of terrestrial fibre-based quantum networks.”

ESA is developing QKDSat in collaboration with a consortium led by Honeywell Aerospace, and which includes Redwire, QTLabs, Craft Prospect, British Telecom, COLT, Lumino Technologies as well as multiple participants across Europe’s space ecosystem. QKDSat convenes no less than six of ESA’s Member and Participating States, including the UK, Belgium, Austria, Canada, Czechia and Switzerland.