Alibaba Cloud’s Qwen-3 AI model has become the world’s first general-purpose AI system to operate in orbit, marking a significant milestone for China’s space-based computing capabilities. The system was deployed by aerospace start-up Adaspace Technology as part of its Star-Compute Project, a network of 2,800 satellites designed to perform AI computations and model training directly in space.
The deployment, carried out in November 2025, allowed Qwen-3 to execute multiple AI inference tasks, completing the full process—from uploading queries from Earth to receiving results back—within two minutes. This demonstrates the high-speed processing potential of space-based infrastructure.
Qwen-3, launched in April 2025, is part of Alibaba Cloud’s open-source AI ecosystem and was installed on a constellation of 12 Adaspace satellites launched in May 2025. By performing AI computations in orbit, the system benefits from unlimited solar energy, natural cooling, and avoids the constraints of terrestrial computing, enabling faster inference, scalable operations, and lower data transmission costs.
The success of Qwen-3 highlights China’s growing capabilities in orbital data processing and represents a major step toward integrating AI with space computing, with potential applications across defense, telecommunications, and other data-intensive industries.
