LordOfChaos
Member
This is incorrect, the photons were absolutely launched at the station from the ground.
EDIT: Also, manipulating either breaks the entanglement.
Quantum "teleportation" was initially developed in Bell Laboratories and was going to be named something along the lines of quantum state transfer. The PR people decided that it would be better to name it teleportation and thus like the higgs boson "god particle" people suddenly care about it due to its sensational and misleading name. What actually happens with quantum "teleportation" is the quantum state in one particle is transferred to another particle. (eg, the polarization of one photon is vertical on the ground, now it transfers that polarization to a photon in space.) A short version is make a pair of entangled photons send one to space, have a separate photon on earth use the entangled photon on earth to transfer its quantum state to the one in space. Transferring quantum state . Also, object is a pretty misleading term as it makes it seem like the matter is being transferred when as said, its only quantum state information.
tl;dr, Quantum *information* was launched from the ground and instantly received. It's not like a photon walked into a teleporter and then was in space faster than the speed of light.
The article part that says "launched from the ground" that you quoted is unclear or lacks understanding.