Beijing to build space data center 700-800 km above Earth

BEIJING -- The Beijing sci-tech commission, along with space research institutions and enterprises in the city, plans to establish a space data center in the dawn-dusk orbit about 700-800 kilometers above the Earth in the future, the Science and Technology Daily reported on Friday.

According to a meeting held on Thursday by the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission and Beijing Astro-future Institute of Space Technology, the space data center will form a large-scale centralized system with a power capacity exceeding the gigawatt level, comprising space computing power, relay transmission, and ground control subsystems. Each sub-center of the system will be capable of hosting server clusters with a total capacity of millions of cards.

According to the meeting, the data center will be constructed in three phases. By 2035, a large-scale space data center will be established to support space-based computing.

The meeting also launched an innovation consortium for the space data center. Led by the Beijing Astro-future Institute of Space Technology and its affiliated enterprises, the consortium brings together 24 industrial chain organizations.

The innovation consortium will focus on the construction and application of the space data center. In terms of industrial integration and ecosystem building, the consortium will promote the integration of the space data center with cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), mobile communications, new materials and new energy, fostering new business models in space information applications.

The development of the first-generation experimental satellite for the data center has been completed and is scheduled for launch by the end of 2025 or early 2026.

The Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission said that the space data center represents a strategic integration of commercial space and AI. Beijing will increase its support, positioning the project as a key direction for the construction of an international sci-tech innovation center, thereby helping to form new industrial chains and a commercial closed loop.