--- title: "China Is Building an AI-Powered Supercomputer Network in Space" description: "China is launching a space-bound AI supercomputer — and the first of its satellites were just sent up into orbit." date: "2025-05-23" modified: "2025-05-23" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/china-ai-orbital-supercomputer" categories: - "Off-World" - "Space" tags: - "china" - "orbital computing" - "supercomputers" - "the digest" --- # China Is Building an AI-Powered Supercomputer Network in Space ![China is launching a space-bound AI supercomputer — and the first of its satellites were just sent up into orbit.]() *\Image: CASC\* ## Space Computer China is launching a space-bound AI supercomputer — and the first batch of the satellites it's comprised of was just sent up. As the [*South China Morning Post* reports](), the so-called "Three-Body Computing Constellation" project launched the first 12 of its planned 2,800 satellites last week from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. The orbital supercomputer network will, when complete, allow for rapid in-orbit data processing rather than relying on terrestrial computing facilities to relay information to Earth and then back up to space. It also doesn't require the copious amounts of water ground-based computers need to stay cool. Each satellite, the *SCMP* notes, carries an eight-billion-parameter AI model that can process raw data in orbit. Paired with the satellites' massive computing power of one quintillion operations per second, the constellation is expected, when complete, to rival the world's most powerful terrestrial supercomputers. ## Orbital Processing Launched from northwest China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, each satellite carries, [per a statement]() from the ADA Space startup that helped launch the constellation, unique scientific payloads that can do everything from detect gamma ray bursts to create "digital twins" of Earth terrain for emergency services and other industries. While the concept of orbital computing is nothing new, this project is, as Harvard astronomer Jonathan McDowell told *SCMP*, "the first substantial flight test" of the gambit. As McDowell pointed out, theoretical space cloud computing projects are "very fashionable" right now, with private companies like [Axiom Space]() and [Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin]() planning their own orbital computing satellites. Unlike terrestrial data centers, which, [according to the International Energy Agency]() are on track to use as much energy as Japan by 2026, orbital data centers can "use solar power and radiate their heat to space, reducing the energy needs and carbon footprint," as McDowell told *SCMP*. With the launch of the first of its 2,800 satellites, China's orbital supercomputer puts the country ahead of the United States in the rival countries' space race, though there's no telling which will actually cross the finish line first. **More on the space race**: [*White House Announces It Can Now "Manipulate Time and Space"*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()