Coverage simulation of satellites Mozi and Jinan 1 during the quantum key distribution

Abstract Satellites Mozi and Jinan 1 are both in orbit for the quantum-dedicated missions by Chinese scientists. Satellite Mozi was sent into space in 2016; it has accomplished its whole goals by the end of 2017. Satellite Jinan 1 was sent into space in 2022, and has finished its main in-orbit demonstration experiments. If joint campaigns of these two satellites are considered, the efficiency of quantum key distribution will be boosted. Based on the up-to-date precision orbit elements for both Mozi and Jinan 1, the coverage of Jinan 1 with respect to the worldwide ground reference points is simulated and analyzed; in order to make some comparisons, the coverage of the joint campaign of Jinan 1 and Mozi with respect to the worldwide ground reference points is also computed and analyzed; the results have shown that the effective time for quantum key distribution is almost doubled when Mozi and Jinan 1 are considered as a whole campaign.