This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

Samuel Lellouch is an Assistant Professor in Digital Twinning at the University of Birmingham, where he is leading a research and innovation activity in the field of theory, modelling and simulation for quantum systems and quantum technologies.

A US military space-plane, the X-37B orbital test vehicle, is due to embark on its eighth flight into space on August 21 2025. Much of what the X-37B does in space is secret. But it serves partly as a platform for cutting-edge experiments.

One of these experiments is a potential alternative to GPS that makes use of quantum science as a tool for navigation: a quantum inertial sensor.

Satellite-based sy

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