The idea is not that the physical object is teleported but the information that describes it. This can then be applied to a similar object in a new location which effectively takes on the new identity.
Chinese physicists have managed to teleport photons over 97km using quantum entanglement.
The achievement is a significant step towards an ultra-secure communication system that would be immune to eavesdropping. The team had achieved success before in 2010 when they managed to teleport a photon 16km. "The successful quantum teleportation over such channel losses in combination with our high-frequency and high-accuracy [aiming] technique show the feasibility of satellite-based ultra-long-distance quantum teleportation," said Juan Yin at the University of Science and Technology in Shanghai.
Source Technology Review
