https://doi.org/10.1140/epjqt/s40507-025-00360-3
Review
Quantum sensing for NASA science missions
1
NASA Headquarters, Washington, USA
2
NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, USA
3
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, USA
Received:
27
February
2025
Accepted:
2
May
2025
Published online:
21
May
2025
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) develops a broad range of technologies to support space-based quantum sensing and communications, uses the space environment to study fundamental quantum processes to advance our knowledge of physics, and develops algorithms to attack complex science problems that might be solved using quantum computing. This paper describes quantum sensors that NASA has flown on space missions, investments that NASA is making to develop quantum sensors, and possible approaches to employ quantum sensing to study the attributes of distant stars and planets, the Sun, Earth, and fundamental properties of matter.
Key words: Quantum sensing / Remote sensing / Spacecraft / Space science / Earth science
© This is a U.S. Government work and not under copyright protection in the US; foreign copyright protection may apply 2025
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
