It was a high-tech spectacle: at 12:12 p.m. Beijing Time on Wednesday, a Long March-2D carrier rocket thundered off the launchpad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest Chinese mainland, carrying the first 12 satellites of China’s new space computing constellation. This mission marks a major leap for in-orbit data processing and artificial intelligence.
Jointly developed by Zhijiang Laboratory and global partners, the constellation is set to expand to thousands of satellites in the coming years. "Our goal is to build a real-time, AI-driven supercomputer in space," says Wang Jian, director of Zhijiang Laboratory and founder of Alibaba Cloud. By shifting heavy data crunching from ground stations to orbit, the network can tackle traditional bottlenecks and slash latency for Earth observation, climate monitoring, and more.
Each of the 12 satellites carries an 8-billion-parameter AI model capable of processing raw data (level L0) all the way to fully refined information (level L4) on board. Full inter-satellite links allow the cluster to share insights instantly—imagine cloud infrastructure floating 500 to 600 kilometers above Earth.
Beyond AI computing, this batch will test cross-orbit laser communication and conduct astronomical science observations. Early applications could include rapid disaster response imagery, precision agriculture alerts, and real-time maritime tracking—data-intensive tasks where every millisecond counts.
Tech enthusiasts and entrepreneurs are watching closely: if successful, this space-based compute layer could complement terrestrial cloud platforms, opening new frontiers for startups, remote sensing firms, and sustainability projects worldwide. For digital nomads tracking climate shifts, or developers building the next AI startup, the sky literally just got more powerful.
With this launch, China underscores its ambition to push computing power beyond the ground, forging a new chapter in space innovation that could reshape how we collect, process, and act on data from orbit.
Reference(s):
China launches first batch of space computing satellite constellation
cgtn.com
