Space-compute developer Dongfang Tiansuan (东方天算) signed Pearl Constellation (明珠星座) cooperation agreements with 27 industry partners, covering hardware, energy, communications, and software.

Dongfang Tiansuan (东方天算) signed the agreements during the September 13 space-computing industry ecosystem forum at the Pujiang Innovation Forum in Shanghai. The Mingzhu Constellation (明珠星座), translated as “Pearl Constellation” in the digest, was formally launched as a program at the event.

Named partners included the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Innovation Academy for Microsatellites (中科院微小卫星创新研究院), Shanghai Institute of Space Power-Sources (上海空间电源研究所), and Shanghai Institute of Satellite Engineering (上海卫星工程研究所). Commercial participants included Alibaba Cloud (阿里云), iFLYTEEK (科大讯飞), Biren Technology (壁仞科技), and Iluvatar CoreX (天数智芯).

The cooperation spans compute chips, space energy, inter-satellite communications, satellite platforms, computing payloads, and software services. The source reports signed industry-cooperation agreements but gives no monetary commitments, equipment purchase quantities, or binding capacity reservations.

The program’s stated long-term objective is a gigawatt-scale space-based computing constellation, with in-orbit validation of domestic computing payloads, optical-computing payloads, and new energy systems preceding initial satellite deployment and network expansion. Its objective of progressively establishing a globally covering space–ground compute infrastructure and service network by 2030 remains a program plan, not operational capacity; the gigawatt designation is not a computational-throughput figure.