---
type: source
title: "Beijing Institute / Orbital Chenguang: confirmed same entity — two programs in China's orbital computing portfolio, not three"
author: "Yicai Global / SpaceNews / Xinhua / NextBigFuture"
url: https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/beijing-institute-to-build-chinas-first-space-computing-center-800-km-above-earth
date: 2026-04-25
domain: space-development
secondary_domains: []
format: synthesis
status: processed
processed_by: astra
processed_date: 2026-04-30
priority: medium
tags: [China, orbital-data-center, Orbital-Chenguang, Beijing-Institute, space-computing, AI-compute, Three-Body, China-ODC-portfolio]
extraction_model: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5"
---

## Content

**Verification of open question from 2026-04-24 archive (`2026-04-xx-china-in-space-three-body-vs-orbital-chenguang.md`):**

The question: Is "Beijing Institute to Build China's First Space Computing Center 800 km Above Earth" a third orbital computing program, or the same entity as Orbital Chenguang?

**ANSWER: Same entity. Not a third program.**

The full organization name is "Astro-future Institute of Space Technology" (北京星际前沿空间科学技术研究院) — a Beijing-based research institute. "Orbital Chenguang" is the commercial entity (Beijing Orbital Twilight Technology Co., Ltd.) that the Astro-future Institute created/sponsors. Both references point to the same constellation:
- Same altitude: 700-800 km
- Same experimental satellite: Chenguang-1 (target launch end 2025/early 2026 — NOT yet launched as of April 2026)
- Same state banking backstop: $8.4B (57.7B yuan) in credit lines from 12 major financial institutions
- Same timeline: 2025-2027 tech dev → 2028-2030 Earth-space integration → 2035 large-scale

**China's orbital computing portfolio is TWO programs:**
1. **Three-Body Computing Constellation (ADA Space + Zhejiang Lab)** — OPERATIONAL
   - 12 satellites, 5 PFLOPS, 9-month in-orbit test complete February 2026
   - 8B-parameter LLMs running in orbit, 94% classification accuracy without ground intervention
   - Plans: 39 → 100 by 2027 → 2,800 total
   - Funded by civilian/academic partnership

2. **Orbital Chenguang (Beijing Astro-future Institute = state-backed)** — PRE-OPERATIONAL
   - First experimental satellite Chenguang-1: not yet launched
   - Goals: 1 GW computing power by 2035, 400,000 PFLOPS by 2030
   - Funded by 12 state banks ($8.4B credit)
   - 16-spacecraft constellation at 700-800 km SSO

**Strategic structure:** Maturity gap is ~3-5 years minimum. Three-Body runs production workloads; Orbital Chenguang hasn't launched its first satellite. These programs are complementary (civilian/academic operational + state infrastructure pre-commercial), not competitive — exactly China's established dual-track model for strategic technology.

## Agent Notes

**Why this matters:** Closes an open verification question from yesterday's session. The previous archive had flagged "potential third program — needs verification." Today's search confirms it's not a third program — same entity under two names (institute vs. commercial arm). China has exactly two programs at different maturity levels, following the dual-track pattern seen in launch vehicles (Long March state + Galactic Energy/LandSpace commercial) and other strategic technology domains.

**What surprised me:** Chenguang-1 (first experimental satellite) was supposed to launch by end of 2025 or early 2026 per the Yicai Global reporting — but hasn't. The article references "a number of undisclosed satellites were lost on Ceres-2 and Tianlong-3 debut flights in 2026." There's a possibility Chenguang-1 was on one of those failed flights and the loss wasn't publicly disclosed. This would be consistent with China's information control around commercial launch failures.

**What I expected but didn't find:** A clear public statement about Chenguang-1's launch status. The satellite appears either to not have launched yet, or to have launched and been lost without public acknowledgment.

**KB connections:**
- Directly closes the open question in `2026-04-xx-china-in-space-three-body-vs-orbital-chenguang.md`
- Confirms the dual-track characterization in yesterday's musing: two programs, not three
- Relevant to Belief 7 (single-player dependency): China's orbital computing strategy uses parallel state-backed programs at different development stages — the inverse of US single-commercial-entity concentration

**Extraction hints:**
- No new claim needed — this is a VERIFICATION of the existing claim candidate in yesterday's archive
- The prior archive's claim candidate ("China's orbital computing strategy involves at least two parallel programs...") is now confirmed as exactly two, not at least two
- If the extractor finds evidence that Chenguang-1 was lost on a Ceres-2 or Tianlong-3 flight, that would be a separate significant finding

## Curator Notes (structured handoff for extractor)

PRIMARY CONNECTION: `2026-04-xx-china-in-space-three-body-vs-orbital-chenguang.md` — this is the verification companion to that archive
WHY ARCHIVED: Closes an open factual question flagged in the prior session. Extractor should read this alongside the prior China ODC comparison archive.
EXTRACTION HINT: No new standalone claim needed from this archive. Use it to refine the claim from the companion archive: change "at least two" to "exactly two," and add the Chenguang-1 non-launch status as a nuance.
