Plus: A startup working on a room-temperature quantum computer, Europe’s satellite-crashing mission and how scientists are tracking shape-shifting cancers.In this week’s edition of The Prototype, we look at Jeff Bezos’ big rocket test, a startup working on a room-temperature quantum computer, a satellite-crashing mission, tracking shape-shifting cancer and more.the second stage of its next generation rocket, the New Glenn.
The test marks a milestone for the company in making a play for Earth’s orbit. Although it has successfully launched rockets 26 times , all of those flights have been suborbital–in space, yes, but never making a trip around the planet or putting up a satellite.five years ago when Jeff Bezos said its first launch would be in 2021).
Today’s quantum chips have to be kept cold because the quantum bits being processed are extremely fragile and start falling apart if they’re disturbed by the environment. The time that a qubit holds its quantum state together is called coherence time, and it’s often measured in fractions of a second. When the processors are at extremely cold temperatures, that coherence time can be longer.
This is where diamonds could come in. Not just any diamonds, but synthetic ones created with specific flaws built in that enable qubits to be processed. Because the bonds between atoms in a diamond are very strong, they help stabilize the coherence of the qubits all on their own. No low temperatures needed. That’s the idea, anyway, and some papers suggest it’s possible, but putting it into practice is the challenge.
The partnership is aiming to have their first prototype mobile quantum computer developed “in about 30 months,” Quantum Brilliance chief revenue officer Mark Mattingley-Scott told me, saying that he envisions their product potentially working like a co-processor for AI applications, the way that GPUs are used in data centers today. “I think machine learning is where we will see the first actual business case” for quantum computing, he added.