# CASC and CAST space computing plan: orbital data center program

> China (China), prime contractor. Stage 1 of 7: Concept. The plan is a stated goal reported via CCTV in January 2026 plus a technical paper; no hardware is announced.

- Canonical page: https://spacenexus.us/orbital-data-centers/casc-space-computing
- This Markdown version: https://spacenexus.us/orbital-data-centers/casc-space-computing.md
- Data as of: 2026-10-05 (last evidence review)
- How the numbers are made: https://spacenexus.us/orbital-data-centers#method

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## Stage evidence

- The plan is a stated goal reported via CCTV in January 2026 plus a technical paper; no hardware is announced. Sources: [Asia Financial](https://www.asiafinancial.com/china-planning-to-put-ai-data-centres-in-space-over-next-5-years); [Tencent News (CCTV)](https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20260129A04NLK00)
- Vision only: statements of intent or interest, not a program of its own.

## Approach

- Orbit: Not specified
- Architecture: State prime's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026 to 2030) commitment to gigawatt-class space digital-intelligence infrastructure; a CAST paper outlines stepwise large computing satellites
- Power: 10 kW-class test satellite (about 2027), then 500 kW-class satellites (about 2030), per a CAST paper
- Cooling: Foldable radiators named as key technology
- Compute: Not specified
- Customers: National infrastructure

## Milestones

| Date | Status | Confidence | Milestone | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2026-01-29 | achieved | Reported | CASC plan via CCTV: gigawatt-class space digital-intelligence infrastructure. Reported by Reuters and Asia Financial. | [Asia Financial](https://www.asiafinancial.com/china-planning-to-put-ai-data-centres-in-space-over-next-5-years); [Tencent News (CCTV)](https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20260129A04NLK00) |

## Announced next steps (as the organisation stated them)

- ~2027 (CAST paper): Experimental 10 kW-class computing satellite (about 1,000 kg). Sources: [China in Space](https://www.china-in-space.com/p/state-owned-firms-confident-in-space)
- ~2030 (CAST paper): 500 kW-class satellites (about 20,000 kg each). Sources: [China in Space](https://www.china-in-space.com/p/state-owned-firms-confident-in-space)
- 2030 (as reported): Industrial-scale Space Cloud. Sources: [Asia Financial](https://www.asiafinancial.com/china-planning-to-put-ai-data-centres-in-space-over-next-5-years)

## What to watch (SpaceNexus note, not a prediction)

Whether the 10 kW test satellite is formally scheduled.

## Cautions

- The 10 kW and 500 kW steps come from a technical paper as summarized by China in Space, not a formal program announcement.

## Sources

- [Asia Financial](https://www.asiafinancial.com/china-planning-to-put-ai-data-centres-in-space-over-next-5-years)
- [Tencent News (CCTV)](https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20260129A04NLK00)
- [China in Space](https://www.china-in-space.com/p/state-owned-firms-confident-in-space)

## Licence and credits

- Licence: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) for the stage, labels and summaries compiled by SpaceNexus. Cite as "Data: SpaceNexus (spacenexus.us)" with a link to https://spacenexus.us/orbital-data-centers/casc-space-computing.
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