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Image courtesy of ESA
Note: The debris field shown in the image is an artist’s impression based on actual data. However, the debris objects are shown at an exaggerated size to make them visible at the scale shown

This week NVIDIA have talked about the need and benefits of having artificial intelligence (AI) platforms in space, and China has launched a demonstration satellite doing the same thing amongst a raft of other launches.

NVIDIA Boldly Goes …

Earlier this week NVIDIA’s CEO, Jensen Huang, borrowed a phrase from Star Trek when he described space computing as the final frontier during the NVIDIA GTC Conference 2026. The company unveiled a new generation of AI computing platforms designed for orbital data centres. This follows Elon Musk’s recent declaration that he wanted to launch one million satellites to provide the energy for the growing power demands of AI.

The Space-1 Vera Rubin Module is a platform designed specifically for use in satellites and orbital infrastructure where size, weight and power requirements are critical. NVIDIA is already working with partners including Aetherflux, Axiom Space, Kepler Communications, Planet, Sophia Space and Starcloud. NVIDIA believes that this platform can bring AI capability at scale to space, meaning future satellites will be able to process and transform data directly in orbit, reducing the need to send raw data back to Earth; this will significantly speed up the provision of real-time and actionable geospatial data. Processing data in orbit isn’t new, even Pixalytics has previously run machine learning algorithms on-board a satellite as part of an European Space Agency In-Orbit Demonstration. However, it is interesting to see major organisations looking to take this practice mainstream, although the announcement did state that the Space-1 Vera Rubin Module wasn’t currently available, but would become available at a later date.

Chinese Satellite Launches Are Back

Following a quiet period over the Chinese New Year, China’s space sector has roared back into life with three Earth Observation missions in the last week.

• Two Shiyan 30 satellites, SY 30C and SY30D, were put into orbit on the 12^th March by a Long March rocket. These are part of a series of development satellites built by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology and are mainly used for experimental testing and verification of EO technologies.
• Yaogan 50-02 was launched on the 15^th March aboard a Long March-6 rocket. The reports from China noted that this satellite would be used for land survey, crop yield estimation, and disaster prevention and relief. However, there are also reports that this is believed to be a radar satellite for the Chinese military. The exact purpose is not known. This satellite follows the launch of Yaogan 50-01 in January this year.
• Eight satellites were launched into a low Earth orbit on March 13^th by the Kuaizhou-11 Y7 carrier. The payload was:
  • Juntian-1-04A: An X-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite developed by Beijing Juntian Aerospace Technology Co., Ltd. Data is expected to be used for applications such as geological disaster early warning and safety monitoring of large-scale ground infrastructure.
  • Three Dongpo satellites, Dongpo-11, Dongpo-12, Dongpo-16, for the Huantian Wisdom Technology Co Ltd. These are ‘high-resolution’ EO satellites and part of a constellation providing all-day, any-weather imaging services.
  • Yuxing-3-05 satellite with optical cameras and new image processing hardware to enhance imagery collected as part of a technology demonstration effort.
  • Weitong-1-01 is a demonstration nano EO satellite, for the Xingzhong Space Jiaxing Technology Co., and like NVIDIA earlier, this satellite has onboard AI to process and analyze data. collected images, being tested with the satellite. If successful, the company plans to deploy a constellation of AI satellites.
  • Xiguang-1-06 is a hyperspectral satellite whose data will be used for land surveying, forest management, environment monitoring, and disaster planning applications.
  • Yuxing-3-06 is not an EO satellite, but a demonstration satellite for an accelerated orbital decay experiment using drag spheres, and a robotic arm intended for refuelling other satellites in orbit.

Summary

Clearly, the big tech companies are turning their attention to space as one of the next big opportunities. It is a very different and difficult environment to operate in, not to mention the expensive set up costs. It will be fascinating to see which partnerships develop and survive, or whether the big companies will go it alone.