We are looking for industrial partners for the QCI project QMPC: Quantum Mission Planning Challenges. For full details of the call, visit TED: 140840-2023. The submission deadline is April 4th, 2023, 2 p.m. local time.

The QMPC project aims to implement specific operational planning problems in satellite operations as quantum algorithms. This includes in particular the on-call duty planning, the scheduling of ground station contacts, as well as the recording planning for earth observation missions. Starting from a description of the task in a generic mission planning language, the QMPC team will develop quantum algorithms to solve concrete problem instances on quantum computers.

Applicable to industrial optimization problems

Industry participation in the QMPC project consists of two components. The first part is direct participation in the project, the second part is integration via technology transfer. As part of the collaboration on the project, the focus is in particular on creating a quantum algorithm to solve a “Decentralized Energy System Scheduling” problem (DESS) and implementing it in the form of a web service. The specific challenges, while drawn from space operations, are very general in nature. The solutions developed can therefore be transferred to many industrial optimization problems such as the DESS.

Such challenges include the optimization of a discrete planning problem with constraints, around inequality constraints on problem-dependent resources, around constraints defined on sliding windows, or around logical constraints on the variables of the planning problem. In this project, techniques are to be developed and evaluated that will allow larger instances of such optimization problems with constraints to be solved on quantum computers in the future.

Led by DLR RB

The QMPC project is managed by DLR Space Operations and Astronaut Training. It is the central facility for conducting space missions in Germany with locations in Cologne, Oberpfaffenhofen and Weilheim. The responsibilities of the facility range from satellite missions for earth observation, science and communication to the operation of astronautical missions and reconnaissance flights into the planetary system. In addition, astronauts are trained and their experiments are prepared, and sounding rockets are developed for use around the world. In addition, DLR space operations are working on new technologies in order to be able to use them to master even the most difficult space projects of the future.

QMPC: Quantum Mission Planning Challenges

The project will solve mission planning problems using three quantum algorithms and will interface a classical planning system with quantum computers.

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