Studying the Earth with a Quantum Computer: ESA-ESRIN in Frascati Receives an Equal1 Bell-1

The ESA will soon have its own quantum computer for the study of the Earth and the interpretation of data arriving from satellites. ESA-ESRIN, the Center for Earth Observation of the ESA, will indeed see the installation of an Equal1 Bell-1 computer that will complement the HPC systems to assess how quantum computing can aid in the study of our planet.

A Quantum Computer for ESA

Equal1 is an Irish company that originated as a spin-off from University College Dublin, producing quantum computers based on silicon spin qubits. This approach allows for the use of traditional manufacturing methods of classic silicon CMOS chips, thus eliminating the need to resort to superconductors or other unusual materials and processes.

The advantage of this approach is also that Equal1 chips do not require the extreme cooling that many other methods necessitate: they only need to be cooled to 0.3 K, which is a couple of orders of magnitude higher than the temperatures required for superconducting-based chips.

Equal1 has designed its quantum computers to use an integrated, closed-loop cooling system, which does not require the use of liquid helium with its associated tanks. The total consumption of the entire system is just 1.6 kW, comparable to that of a standard server.

The ESA's project aims to use the Bell-1, which is a 6-qubit quantum computer installed at the ESA-ESRIN center in Frascati, to build hybrid neural networks for image classification related to land use and green cover, as well as for planning satellite missions.

In the initial phase, this will be a pilot project aimed at understanding whether and how feasible this approach is and if it offers advantages over classical methods. Often, the datasets to be analyzed contain a lot of noise, making their classification difficult; the hope is that, despite their small size and limited computational power, today's quantum computers can make a positive contribution to research in this field.

Giuseppe Borghi, head of the ESA's Φ-lab Division, commented: "Earth observation will enter a new era where the scale and complexity of the data will be a challenge even for our most advanced classical systems. Quantum computing promises a new way to approach some of these problems, with the potential to complement existing high-performance computing rather than replace it. By bringing quantum computing into an Earth observation research environment, we can rigorously test where it brings real value, develop hybrid algorithms for practical applications, and build the scientific foundations for the next generation of data collection on climate, weather, and, in general, the Earth."