Overview
Adaspace Technology Co., Ltd. — a Chengdu-based commercial aerospace enterprise leading the construction of the “star compute” satellite constellation, a 2,800-satellite Space-Based Computing network for AI inference and training. First batch launched May 2025; goal is 1,000-satellite scale by 2030, full 2,800 by 2035.
Key Facts
- Headquarters: Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
- Executive VP: Zhao Hongjie
- “Star compute” plan: 2,400 inference + 400 training computing satellites in dawn-dusk, sun-synchronous, and low-inclination orbits at 500–1,000 km
- Compute targets: hundred-thousand-petaflop inference; million-petaflop training
- May 14, 2025: first satellite batch launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center
- November 2025: deployed Alibaba’s Qwen3 LLM in orbit — claimed first ever in-orbit deployment of a general-purpose LLM (in-orbit inference < 2 minutes)
- Collaboration with Shanghai Jiao Tong University: world’s first space-based-compute-controlled ground robot demonstration
- March 26, 2026: launched Prometheus — commercial space-computing cloud platform, with MIIT’s small/medium-enterprise development promotion center
- Per CAICT: Chinese space-compute industry projected at
¥250B ($36.6B) by 2030
Newsletter Relevance
The architectural workaround to the terrestrial-compute chokepoints the wiki has documented. While OpenAI locks up Samsung / SK Hynix DRAM and Qatar’s Helium production goes offline, ADAspace is building compute infrastructure that sits outside the terrestrial supply chain entirely. This is structural, not rhetorical, response to U.S. export controls and chokepoint pressure. Whether the timelines hold is the open question; the milestones already achieved (Qwen3 in orbit, Prometheus launch, robot control) are technically significant.
Connections
- Zhejiang Lab — parallel “Three-Body Computing Constellation”; competitor/collaborator
- Alibaba — Qwen3 LLM partner
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University — space-to-ground robot partner
- CAICT — industry-projection authority
- CNSA — pre-project assessment for state constellation
- MIIT — Prometheus platform partner; standards system
Source Appearances
Open Questions
- Western-source corroboration of constellation milestones (no non-Chinese source in the wiki yet)
- Actual customer base of Prometheus platform
- Whether the 2030 / 2035 timelines hold under the constraints Yan Zhiyong identified (vacuum, temperature, radiation, microgravity, chip cooling, prohibitive post-launch maintenance)
- Whether Western cloud providers (AWS / Azure / GCP / Anthropic / OpenAI) are pursuing comparable architectures, or have decided the maintenance constraint is disqualifying