China - November 14, 2024 World's first AI large-model satellite operates smoothly in space (Voice_over) Officials from ADA Space, a Chinese satellite company, together with researchers from Chinese University Hong Kong, say the world's first AI large-model satellite has been operating smoothly now for about a month. Since its launch in September, the Hong Kong Youth Science and Technology Innovation Satellite has been processing data in real time, allowing it to learn, and make quick decisions. Previously, satellites would collect information then beam it back down to earth for review, a much longer process. Researchers say the AI satellite will be a game-changer for urban planning, disaster response, and environmental monitoring. (Sound_bite) Wang Lei, CEO, ADA Space: "The technical staff has interacted with the satellite in this process. The remote sensing data on the satellite is huge and irregular. Thanks to the large model, we can carry out various tasks such as target recognition, feature extraction, and behavior prediction within a region." (Voice_over) Engineers say they’ve overcome many technical obstacles, including how to transport computing power into space. (Sound_bite) Wang Lei, CEO, ADA Space： "There were many challenges. It is relatively easy to control factors such as energy, building structure, temperature, humidity, weight and others on ground than that in space. The selection of appropriate board and chip, unit interface, and protocol adaptation have presented a series of technical challenges for us." (Voice_over) The Chinese team said AI will be a transformative force in commercial spaceflight and could lead to fundamental changes in satellite designs. The team is working to build a global "mobile" computing network made up of about 2,800 satellites by the year 2030. [Restriction: No access Chinese mainland]