More than 250 quantum scientists have signed a “manifesto” opposing the use of quantum research for military purposes. The statement – quantum scientists for disarmament –  expresses a “deep concern” about the current geopolitical situation and “categorically rejects” the militarization of quantum research or its use in population control and surveillance. The signatories now call for an open debate about the ethical implications of quantum research.

While quantum science has the potential to improve many different areas – from sensors and medicine to computing – some are concerned about its applications for military purposes. They includes quantum key distribution and cryptographic networks for communication as well as quantum clocks and sensing for military navigation and positioning.

Marco Cattaneo from the University of Helsinki in Finland, who co-authored the manifesto, says that even the potential applications of quantum technologies in warfare can be used to militarize universities and research agendas, which he says is already happening. He notes is not unusual for scientists to openly discuss military applications at conferences or to include such details in scientific papers.

“We are already witnessing restrictions on research collaborations with fellow quantum scientists from countries that are geopolitically opposed or ambiguous with respect to the European Union, such as Russia or China,” says Cattaneo. “When talking with our non-European colleagues, we also realized that these concerns are global and multifaceted.”

Long-term aims

The idea for a manifesto originated during a quantum-information workshop that was held in Benasque in Spain between June and July 2025.

“During a session on science policy, we realized that many of us shared the same concerns about the growing militarization of quantum science and academia,” Cattaneo recalls. “As physicists, we have a strong – and terrible – historical example that can guide our actions: the development of nuclear weapons, and the way the physics community organized to oppose them and to push for their control and abolition.”

Cattaneo says that the first goal of the manifesto is to address the militarization of quantum research, which he calls “the elephant in the room”. The document also aims to raise awareness and open a debate within the community and create a forum where concerns can be shared.

“A longer-term goal is to prevent, or at least to limit and critically address, research on quantum technologies for military purposes,” says Cattaneo. He notes that “one concrete proposal” is to push public universities and research institutes to publish a database of all projects with military goals or military funding, which, he says,  “would be a major step forward.”

Cattaneo claims the group is “not naïve” and understands that stopping the technology’s military application completely will not be possible. “Even if military uses of some quantum technologies cannot be completely stopped, we can still advocate for excluding them from public universities, for abolishing classified quantum research in public research institutions, and for creating associations and committees that review and limit the militarization of quantum technologies,” he adds.

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NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said he is interested in meeting with his Russian counterpart and attending an upcoming Soyuz launch.

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India has unveiled plans to build two new optical-infrared telescopes and a dedicated solar telescope in the Himalayan desert region of Ladakh. The three new facilities, expected to cost INR 35bn (about £284m), were announced by the Indian finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on 1 February.

First up is a 3.7 m optical-infrared telescope, which is expected to come online by 2030. It will be built near the existing 2m Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT) at Hanle, about 4500m above sea level. Astronomers use the HCT for a wide range of investigations, including stellar evolution, galaxy spectroscopy, exoplanet atmospheres and time-domain studies of supernovae, variable stars and active galactic nuclei.

“The arid and high-altitude Ladakh desert is firmly established as among the world’s most attractive sites for multiwavelength astronomy,” Annapurni Subramaniam, director of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) in Bangalore, told Physics World. “HCT has demonstrated both site quality and opportunities for sustained and competitive science from this difficult location.”

The 3.7-m telescope is a stepping stone towards a proposed 13.7 m National Large Optical-Infrared Telescope (NLOT), which is expected to open in 2038. “NLOT is intended to address contemporary astronomy goals, working in synergy with major domestic and international facilities,” says Maheswar Gopinathan, a scientist at the IIA, which is leading all three projects.

Gopinathan says NLOT’s large collecting area will enable research on young stellar systems, brown dwarfs and exoplanets, while also allowing astronomers to detect faint sources and to rapidly follow up extreme cosmic events and gravitational wave detections.

Along with India’s upgraded Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope, a planned gravitational-wave observatory in the country and the Square Kilometre Array in Australasia and South Africa, Gopinathan says that NLOT “will usher in a new era of multi-messenger and multi-wavelength astronomy.”

The third telescope to be supported is the 2m National Large Solar Telescope (NLST), which will be built near Pangong Tso lake 4350m above sea level. Also expected to come online by 2030, the NLST is an advance on India’s existing 50cm telescope at the Udaipur Solar Observatory, which provides a spatial resolution of about 100 km. Scientists also plan to combine NLST observations with data from Aditya-L1, India’s space-based solar observatory, which launched in 2023.

“We have two key goals [with NLST],” says Dibyendu Nandi, an astrophysicist at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Kolkata, “to probe small-scale perturbations that cascade into large flares or coronal mass ejections and improve our understanding of space weather drivers and how energy in localised plasma flows is channelled to sustain the ubiquitous magnetic fields.”

While bolstering India’s domestic astronomical capabilities, scientists say the Ladakh telescopes – located between observatories in Europe, the Americas, East Asia and Australia – would significantly improve global coverage of transient and variable phenomena.

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