OnCall Operator Scheduling for Satellites with Grover’s Algorithm

The application of quantum algorithms on some problems in NP promises a significant reduction of time complexity. This work uses Grover’s Algorithm, designed to search an unstructured database with quadratic speedup, to find valid a solution for an instance of the on-call operator scheduling problem at the German Space Operation Center. We explore new approaches in encoding the problem and construct the Grover oracle automatically from the given constraints and independent of the problem size. Our solution is not designed for currently available quantum chips but aims to scale with their growth in the next years.