The German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the US space agency NASA are working together on a software library that can be used to investigate the potential of quantum computers for aerospace applications. theQuantum Computing Working GroupDLR has already published a software module. This was used to investigate quantum computing approaches for tasks such as route optimization for transatlantic flights, aircraft allocation at major airports, or the planning of satellite missions. NASA and DLR are now developing further modules and then making them generally available as open source software. The cooperation was agreed in January 2022.
“As one of the first and world-leading working groups for application-oriented quantum computing research, the NASA research group, theNASA Quantum Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (QuAIL), an attractive cooperation partner for DLR. There are many similarities in content with the research goals and use cases of DLR,” says Dr. Tobias Stollenwerk, Head of the Quantum Computing working group at the DLR Institute for Software Technology in Cologne . “The focus is on investigating applications for quantum computing in aerospace and developing corresponding algorithms.” DLR and NASA have been researching quantum computing together since 2016. The cooperation is now strengthened. Among other things, software is to be expanded to support the creation of new quantum computer algorithms. There is also a focus on software for compiling and error suppression in computing processes.
The partners are also continuing to work on the DLR Group’s software module. The module serves as an interface when transferring industrial planning problems to quantum computers. It was developed inProject EQUATE (Enabling QUantum Advantage). The project investigates whether a given problem can actually be solved faster on a current quantum computer than on a conventional computer. It is also about how quantum computers can be efficiently combined with classical computers.