This 195-Billion Pixel Interactive Image of Shanghai is the World’s Third Largest Photo
An image touted to be captured from a Chinese satellite with 24.9 billion pixels of quantum technology is making rounds on several social media platforms and news websites. The viral image is a 360-degree birds eye’s view that can be zoomed to the point where you can see the faces of people casually strolling on the road and even the number plates of the vehicles.
One of the most interesting parts of this mind-numbing image is the clarity and sharp details with which the buildings and surroundings are visible in the image.
This photo seems to be doing a bit of the rounds on the web. It’s a picture of Shanghai which has been taken using China’s quantum satellite camera from upon the Oriental Pearl Tower. Said to be boasting 195 billion pixels of space age technology. Try zooming in and out and see how clear details are of things like people in the street, vehicles and even details inside the windows of some buildings! Can you imagine this as a Where’s Wally / Waldo page? I’m one for embracing technology, but fearful of what can happen in the hands of the wrong people.
China’s Quantum Science Satellite, nicknamed Micius, is the world’s first satellite mission testing quantum communications technology which is likely to become the cornerstone of uncrackable communications systems of the future.
The Quantum Science Satellite (QSS) provides the first space-based platform with long-distance satellite and ground quantum channel, carrying out a series of tests to examine fundamental quantum principles and communications protocols in a full-sized space-to-ground architecture. Completing a two-year mission from a 600-Kilometer orbit, QSS will test long-range quantum communications to evaluate the technology readiness level for a Global Scale Quantum Communications Network.
QSS is a project of the China Academy of Sciences with participation of the Austrian Academy of Sciences for a total project value of around $100 million.
