Space missions are generating more data, demanding lower latency, and facing rising security requirements. Radio-frequency systems remain critical, but optical communications and quantum-enabled photonics are becoming strategic layers for future space networks. The next generation of space infrastructure will be defined by high-data-rate optical links, quantum-secure communications, precision timing, and distributed sensing. Quantum photonics — the engineering discipline that manipulates light at the quantum level — sits at the intersection of all these needs.