---
type: source
title: "China's orbital AI computing programs: Three-Body (operational) vs. Orbital Chenguang (pre-commercial) — two distinct programs at different maturity levels"
author: "china-in-space.com, trtworld.com, pamir consulting"
url: https://www.china-in-space.com/p/chinas-space-enterprises-quietly
date: 2026-04-01
domain: space-development
secondary_domains: []
format: analysis
status: processed
processed_by: astra
processed_date: 2026-05-07
priority: high
tags: [China, orbital-data-center, Three-Body, ADA-Space, Zhejiang-Lab, Orbital-Chenguang, ODC, space-computing, AI-compute, comparison]
extraction_model: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5"
---

## Content

Synthesis of multiple sources mapping China's orbital AI computing programs.

**Program 1: Three-Body Computing Constellation (ADA Space + Zhejiang Lab)**
- Operator: ADA Space (commercial) + Zhejiang Lab (university research)
- Status: OPERATIONAL — 12 satellites launched May 14, 2025 on Long March 2D; 9-month in-orbit test completed February 2026
- Capabilities: 744 TOPS per satellite; 5 PFLOPS collectively; 100 Gbps laser inter-satellite links; 30 TB on-orbit storage; AI models: 8B-parameter remote sensing LLM + 8B-parameter astronomical time-domain model; 94% classification accuracy without ground intervention
- Expansion plan: 39 satellites under development → 100 by 2027 → 2,800 total (the "Star-Compute Program" / "Computing Grid")
- BRI angle: The Three-Body expansion explicitly targets Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) regions as AI processing service markets — a soft power infrastructure strategy
- Character: Civilian/academic with commercial development, independent of state banking backstop

**Program 2: Orbital Chenguang (Beijing Astro-future Institute)**
- Operator: Beijing Orbital Twilight Technology Co., Ltd. / Beijing Astro-future Institute of Space Technology
- Status: PRE-OPERATIONAL — Chenguang-1 experimental satellite NOT YET LAUNCHED as of April 2026; Pre-A1 funding round completed April 20, 2026
- Funding: $8.4B (57.7B yuan) credit lines from 12 major state banks (Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, etc.); backed by Beijing municipal government and Zhongguancun Science Park
- Plans: 16-spacecraft constellation in sun-synchronous orbit at 700-800 km; gigawatt-scale by 2035
- Timeline: 2025-2027 tech dev, 2028-2030 integration, 2035 large-scale
- Character: State-directed infrastructure play with municipal government backing

**Maturity gap:** Three-Body has been running production AI workloads for 9 months; Orbital Chenguang hasn't launched its first experimental satellite. The maturity gap is ~3-5 years minimum.

**Strategic difference:**
- Three-Body = civilian science + commercial development; funded by university/commercial partnership; serving remote sensing and astronomical processing markets first
- Orbital Chenguang = state infrastructure; funded by state banking credit; serving future AI compute markets at gigawatt scale

**Potential third program:** Multiple search results reference "Beijing Institute to Build China's First Space Computing Center 800 km Above Earth" — this may overlap with Orbital Chenguang (which is also a Beijing Institute entity at 700-800 km) or be a third distinct program. Verification needed.

## Agent Notes

**Why this matters:** Western analysis has consistently framed "China's orbital computing program" as singular. It is not — China has at minimum two programs at completely different maturity and scale levels, serving different strategic purposes. This is the same pattern as China's commercial launch vehicle industry (where Long March (state), Galactic Energy (commercial), LandSpace (commercial) all coexist with different mandates).

**What surprised me:** The BRI soft-power angle for Three-Body's expansion — China explicitly plans to use the Three-Body constellation to provide AI processing services to Belt and Road Initiative partner countries. This is not just a domestic compute program; it's global AI infrastructure projection. No US orbital computing program has announced an equivalent international service mandate.

**What I expected but didn't find:** A competitive overlap between Three-Body and Orbital Chenguang. They appear to be complementary rather than competing — Three-Body serves the science/commercial proof market now; Orbital Chenguang will serve the state infrastructure market at scale. The Chinese government is running parallel tracks, not forcing them to compete.

**KB connections:**
- Three-Body archive (2026-04-23) — this source provides the comparative framing that the previous session's archive lacked
- Belief 7 (single-player dependency): China's multi-program approach is the inverse of US single-player concentration; China is hedging across multiple operators while the US consolidated into SpaceX/xAI
- The ODC bifurcation thesis (captive vs. competitive compute) has a China parallel: Three-Body = captive compute (processing its own sensor data); Orbital Chenguang = competitive compute (gigawatt-scale general purpose AI processing)

**Extraction hints:**
- CLAIM CANDIDATE: "China's orbital computing strategy involves at least two parallel programs at different maturity levels — Three-Body (operational civilian/commercial) and Orbital Chenguang (pre-operational state-backed) — following China's established dual-track approach to strategic technology development"
- The BRI angle is a separate claim candidate: "China's Three-Body Computing Constellation expansion explicitly targets Belt and Road Initiative regions as orbital AI processing service markets, embedding orbital computing into China's global infrastructure strategy"
- The "state-backed credit vs. equity" financing distinction is worth capturing as a structural claim about how China's orbital infrastructure gets financed without commercial viability requirements

## Curator Notes (structured handoff for extractor)

PRIMARY CONNECTION: The China orbital data center claim from Session 2026-04-23 (Three-Body operational) and the Orbital Chenguang $8.4B source
WHY ARCHIVED: This is the comparative synthesis that maps China's multi-layer orbital computing strategy. Without this framing, individual program archives lack the structural context.
EXTRACTION HINT: The primary claim to extract is the dual-track structure (civilian academic operational + state infrastructure pre-operational) as a pattern claim about China's technology strategy. The BRI soft-power angle is a secondary claim candidate.
