Artificial intelligence technologies are slowly extending beyond Earth's boundaries. This week, China took a significant step in bringing decision-making and data processing directly into orbit with the launch of two AI-powered satellites.
China's Long March 15 carrier rocket was successfully launched this week. As part of a "one rocket, five satellites" configuration, five satellites were placed into orbit. Two of these satellites are AI-guided. Their most significant feature is their ability to make a large portion of important decisions independently in space, rather than sending data to Earth and waiting for instructions from ground stations.
The first of these AI-based satellites is Jitianxing A-04 (Yunjian Muxi). This satellite carries infrared sensors to detect anomalies on Earth, such as forest fires. What truly sets it apart is its operational method. Jitianxing A-04 incorporates an "embodied AI" model developed by Zhejiang Lab. Thanks to this model, the satellite can continuously monitor its system health, plan its missions, and perform operations autonomously or in coordination with other satellites when necessary.
The second AI-guided satellite launched as part of the mission was the Xinghuo Chuanming Meteorological Satellite. This satellite carries three different meteorological AI models and aims to fundamentally change weather forecasting processes. In traditional systems, meteorological satellites collect atmospheric data and transmit it to Earth. The data is then processed at ground stations, combined with different sources, and various corrections are applied before a forecast is generated. This process can take approximately 90 minutes. The new satellite, however, performs a large part of this process directly in space. Its AI models process the data after reception and generate the weather forecast in orbit. Only the final forecast results are sent to Earth, thereby reducing the time from observation to early warning to mere seconds.
AI Can Be Continuously Updated to Add New Features to the Satellite
One of the remarkable features of this satellite is that its large AI model can be updated during the mission. According to Wang Jian, Director of Zhejiang Lab and a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, traditional satellites operate with the same software they were launched with throughout their mission life. In the new system, a new AI model trained on Earth can be uploaded directly to the orbiting satellite the very next day. This allows the satellite's capabilities to be continuously improved during the mission without the need for new hardware.
Furthermore, it is stated that some structural parts of the satellite were also designed with the help of AI. These AI-generated designs, produced using 3D printing technology, consist of fewer parts and offer a lighter structure compared to traditional designs.
Goal: Establish a Thousand-Satellite AI Network
These two satellites were developed as part of a larger Chinese project called the "Three-Body Computing Constellation."
Led by Zhejiang Lab, this project aims to establish a massive space computing infrastructure consisting of hundreds, or even thousands, of satellites. The primary goal of the project is to perform a significant portion of the computational tasks traditionally carried out in data centers on Earth directly in space. According to the shared roadmap, the constellation is planned to reach 100 satellites by 2027 and 1000 satellites by 2032.
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