China debuted its "Three-Body Computing Constellation" on May 14, sending the first batch of 12 satellites into orbit via a Long March-2D rocket.

　　The mission, led by Zhejiang Lab (ZJ Lab), aims to build a network of thousands of satellites with a total computing power of 1,000 peta operations per second. The constellation will enable real-time in-orbit data processing with intelligent payloads.

　　The launch sparked animated discussions: "Is the constellation named after science fiction?" "Why send computing power into space?" "What specifically can the computing constellation do?"

　　To answer these public concerns, Science and Technology Daily brings you this exclusive interview with experts from ZJ Lab.

　　The meaning behind the name

　　Conventionally, artificial satellites are mainly classified into communication satellites, navigation satellites and remote sensing satellites. The "Three-Body Computing Constellation" belongs to the rarer fourth category — computing satellites.

　　Wang Jian, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and director of ZJ Lab, explained that the name "Three-Body" was inspired by Newton's three-body problem. It describes a system containing three bodies that exert gravitational forces on one another, giving rise to very complicated interactions.

　　The "Three-Body Computing Constellation" aims to gather the strength of different innovative entities to jointly achieve the goal of space computing, Wang said.

　　Computing in space

　　Data from communication, navigation and remote sensing satellites need to be transmitted back to the ground and then analyzed by the ground data processing center. This model is limited by factors such as ground station resources and bandwidth, resulting in low efficiency and information loss. Less than one-tenth of the valid satellite data can be transmitted back to the ground, and there are also problems such as poor data timeliness.

　　The "Three-Body Computing Constellation" aims to conduct in-orbit computing of data collected by satellites and directly send the results to the ground, said Li Chao, deputy director of the Research Center for Space Computing System of ZJ Lab. The boundaries of space applications will be greatly expanded, and many impossible tasks are also expected to be realized, Li added.

　　For example, the 01 and 02 computing satellites launched this time, equipped with the cosmic X-ray polarization detector, will conduct rapid in-orbit detection, verification and classification of various transient sources such as gamma-ray bursts, and observe the two satellites in coordination. This task cannot be accomplished without in-orbit computing power, he pointed out.

　　The 12 computing satellites launched with on-board intelligent computing system and inter-satellite communication system can achieve full-orbit satellite interconnection and in-orbit computing. The core payloads including an intelligent computer and a high-throughput router will largely improve computing power and transmission efficiency.

　　The eight-billion-parameter space computing model onboard can be regarded as the "intelligent brain" of the constellation. It can dispatch satellites to collaboratively process multi-source remote sensing data and independently complete earth observation tasks in orbit.

　　Civil use

　　The computing power network in space actually serves people on the ground.

　　Take forest fire prevention, for example. It takes several hours for conventional satellites to capture data and transmit it to the ground for processing. But computing power and models in space can shorten the processing time from hours to minutes or even seconds, Li said.

　　The "Three-Body Computing Constellation" will play a significant role in multiple fields such as urban governance and disaster relief, providing more effective data support and in-orbit intelligent services for the construction of future smart cities, Li added.

　　ZJ Lab said it will complete the constellation layout of over 50 computing satellites this year. It plans to complete the large-scale construction of about 100 computing satellites by 2027.