Faisal Mahmud
15 October 2026•Update: 15 October 2026
China successfully launched 10 satellites aboard a Zhuque-2E Y4 carrier rocket Wednesday, including eight designed to advance artificial intelligence computing capabilities in orbit.
The rocket lifted off at 7.40 pm local time (1140GMT) from the Dongfeng commercial space innovation pilot zone in northwestern China, placing all 10 satellites into their designated orbits, according to state-run Xinhua News Agency.
Eight satellites belong to the second group of the "Star Compute" project, developed by Chinese commercial aerospace company ADAspace.
Designed to operate in dawn-dusk orbits, the satellites carry high-performance computing systems, laser communication equipment, and low-light cameras.
They will test advanced technologies, including 10,000-watt liquid-cooling systems, large deployable cooling structures, space-based laser communication networks, and the training of AI foundation models directly in orbit.
ADAspace said the mission would help accelerate technological development and commercial applications of space-based computing.
The company plans to establish an orbital AI infrastructure network comprising 2,800 computing satellites.
The first group of 12 satellites was launched in May 2025. In January, the company announced it had deployed Alibaba's Qwen3 AI model aboard its orbital computing network, enabling AI processing directly in space.
The company aims to establish a 1,000-satellite network by 2030 and complete the larger constellation by 2035.
