With the continuous development of information technology, the issue of information security has become increasingly prominent. In the military, finance, government, enterprise and other fields, the security and reliability of information is of paramount importance. Traditional communication technologies have been widely used, including the Internet, optical fiber communication and radio. Meanwhile, the progress and application of quantum computing related technologies have made the security of traditional communication face severe challenges. Based on the quantum non-cloning theorem and Heisenberg′s uncertainty principle, quantum communication can theoretically achieve provable security in information theory. Therefore, ultra-long-distance quantum communication and space-based platforms have become the focus of research. This article reviews the research progress of space-based platform quantum communication in the past ten years, introduces the emergence of space-based platform quantum communication, important development nodes and main achievements, and summarizes the research status of long-distance quantum communication based on free space quantum communication and space-based platform quantum relay. Based on the current problem of high gap in quantum relay, the idea of airship as quantum relay is proposed.