• Building this Three-Body Computing Constellation pushes China closer to winning the space race, leading the world in AI for use in space exploration.
• The constellation targets 1,000 POPS, a level of ability that could outshine.
• The satellites, made possible by ADA Space, Zhejiang Lab, and Neijiang High-Tech Zone, went into low Earth orbit, making progress in uniting AI and space technology.

China has launched the initial 12 satellites as part of its constellation of more than 2,800 planned, opening the road to the world’s first space-based supercomputer. The ambitious "Three-Body Computing Constellation" project began with a rocket that took off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China. The satellites, made possible by ADA Space, Zhejiang Lab, and Neijiang High-Tech Zone, went into low Earth orbit, making progress in uniting AI and space technology.

The satellites that served as prototypes were built differently from normal satellites. Everyone is powered by a model with 8 billion parameters, processing 744 Tera Operations per Second (TOPS). All together, the first group gives a very strong computing performance of 5 Peta Operations per Second (POPS). Once the 2,800 satellites are out, the constellation targets 1,000 POPS, a level of ability that could outshine or equal supercomputers such as El Capitan at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

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A key innovation lies in the satellites’ ability to process data in orbit, addressing a critical bottleneck where less than 10% of raw satellite data typically reaches Earth due to limited bandwidth. Using high-speed laser communication, satellites exchange data at a rate of 100GB per second, resulting in real-time analysis. A satellite also collaborates with Guangxi University and the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to carry a cosmic X-ray polarimeter, which investigates and categorizes transient events,y bursts.

Because of this project, fields like disaster response, planning cities and climate modeling can receive fast, useful data from satellites in orbit. Because of the vacuum of space, less effort is needed to cool the solar panels. Building this Three-Body Computing Constellation pushes China closer to winning the space race, leading the world in AI for use in space exploration and computer systems.