China launched the world's first quantum experiment satellite on Tuesday, taking a big step in building a space-based quantum communication network that would be virtually uncrackable.

The 631-kg satellite, named after the ancient Chinese philosopher and scientist Micius, was lifted atop a Long March 2D rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu province at 1:40 am. It will operate 500 kilometers above Earth for at least two years.

It is the third of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' first space science satellites. Micius follows the Dark Matter Particle Explorer Satellite, which will help scientists deepen their understanding of the past and future of galaxies and the universe, and the Shijian 10, which carried out a series of experiments in microgravity in space, according to scientists at the academy.