At 12:12 on May 14, Chengdu Guoxing Aerospace Technology Co., Ltd, also known as Adaspace, successfully orbited 12 Xingshidai satellites intended to comprise an “AI Cloud” of high-throughput satellite computing aboard a Long March 2D launch vehicle at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.
In claims made via social media, the company says inter-satellite optical links transmit data at 100 Gbps speeds. The satellites are reportedly able to run an 8 billion parameter AI model to assist with astronomical observations recorded through instruments, including a cosmic X-ray polarimeter developed by Guangxi University and the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The constellation also enables remote sensing capabilities and support for emergency services.
Pivoted...
Adaspace started out as a designer of low-Earth orbit satellites for remote sensing, but has since pivoted to a specialism in satellites for AI technologies, notably a constellation called Xingshidai, intended to comprise 2,800 satellites
Star Wars Begins.
That’s a pretty big pivot for Adaspace — going from remote sensing to full-scale AI-in-orbit is ambitious. If their 8‑billion‑parameter model actually runs efficiently in space, that’s a serious step toward edge AI beyond Earth. Curious to see how they handle latency and energy management across that constellation