JIUQUAN, CHINA — China this week launched the world’s first quantum communications satellite, which Beijing hopes could lead to a hack-proof communications system.

The Quantum Experiments at Space Scale (QUESS) satellite, launched on a Long March-2D rocket, is nicknamed Micius, in reference to a fifth century B.C. Chinese philosopher.

Quantum communication relies on a phenomenon known as quantum entanglement, in which particles influence each other, even when separated by great distances.

A photon can be split into pairs of entangled photons by a laser beam. The entangled photons influence one another, so that if one photon changes its state, the other reacts instantly by taking up a state relative to the photon. The photons remain entangled even when one is far away.

Quantum communication could greatly enhance security, as any interception of the information will necessarily alter the state of the photons, thus giving away the eavesdropper.

According to the Chinese government’s Xinhua news agency, scientists will test the technology during the two-year mission by conducting quantum communications between Beijing and Urumqi in China’s far west.