Space computing power has frequently entered people's vision recently. At the 2026 Space Computing Industry Conference held in Beijing Economic and Technological Development Zone, China's first collaborative platform for the space computing industry, the Space Computing Professional Committee, was officially established; The Beijing Space Computing Innovation Center has started construction, focusing on space-based AI chips, space energy, and heat dissipation; American entrepreneur Elon Musk claims that space will be the cheapest place to deploy artificial intelligence within 36 months... What is space computing power? Li Jie, Deputy Director of the Cloud Computing and Big Data Research Institute at the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, believes that it relies on space technology to build a spatial information infrastructure that integrates computing power, storage power, and transportation capacity by deploying computing systems, data storage systems, and high-speed data interconnection facilities in orbit. Simply put, space computing power is equivalent to "moving" data centers from the ground to space, breaking the limitations of the traditional "satellite data collection ground processing and analysis" model, allowing satellites to complete data collection, processing, storage, and output in the sky. Why did space computing power rise? Zhao Ce, Deputy Director of the Information and Communication Development Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, stated that space computing power has advantages such as real-time processing in orbit, low-cost energy, and wide area coverage, which can help enhance space energy development capabilities, improve global coverage and anti-interference capabilities, expand network application boundaries, and have strategic value and industrial prospects. From an energy perspective, the annual electricity consumption of a super large data center is equivalent to the total electricity consumption of residents in a small city. According to data from the International Energy Agency, by 2030, global data center electricity consumption will approach Japan's total national electricity consumption. Space computing power efficiently utilizes space solar energy and the deep cold background of the universe, which can effectively supplement ground energy, "said Li Jie. In terms of global coverage capability, after the completion of satellite networking, space computing power will no longer be limited by ground fiber optic and base station coverage, and can achieve almost 100% seamless global coverage, providing more intelligent technical support for autonomous driving and enabling low altitude aircraft to respond more quickly. In addition, in the view of Yang Liang, the chief engineer of Xi'an Microelectronics Technology Research Institute, space computing power also has strategic significance in data security, which is related to seizing the dominant position in fields such as artificial intelligence and aerospace information. Currently, many countries are accelerating the deployment of space computing power. SpaceX plans to deploy millions of satellites in low Earth orbit, Russia advances the upgrade of computing power for the "Sphere" constellation, Japan focuses on in orbit processing of Earth observation data, and China is the first country to achieve in orbit networking and operation of space computing constellations. According to reports, by 2035, the global in orbit data center market is expected to reach $39 billion, with a compound annual growth rate of 67.4%. However, space computing power still has a long way to go from being "usable" to being "easy to use and affordable". Industry insiders believe that there are still many challenges in technology such as inter satellite communication, onboard chips, energy and thermal management, as well as application scenarios and business models. The launch service capability is an important bottleneck restricting the large-scale deployment of constellations in China. On December 3rd last year, Zhuque-3 completed its maiden flight and was launched into orbit, but the first stage recovery was not completely successful. Our progress in the reuse of rockets still has a certain distance to go before it can be applied in engineering, "said Zhang Xiaodong, the chief designer of the reusable rocket for the Blue Arrow Space Zhuque 3. Zhang Xiaodong frankly stated that in order to meet the requirements of satellite launch and deployment, China will launch about 500 medium and large launch vehicles annually in the coming period. This requires the joint efforts of all domestic launch vehicle research and development units. "The Zhuque-3 remote second rocket will conduct another recovery test in the first half of 2026, and strive to achieve the core goal of first stage recovery." The underlying key technologies that support space computing power urgently need to be broken through. Liu Yaoqi, associate researcher of the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, took thermal management as an example to introduce that the air cooling cooling mode in vacuum environment is completely ineffective and can only rely on the more complex structure of liquid circulation cooling. From how the heat of the chip is exported, to the selection of soft and hard thermal pads, to the microchannel design of the liquid cooling plate, the reliability of the circulation pump, etc., this is a systematic scientific problem that requires a lot of verification. ”Liu Yaoqi said. Cultivating application scenarios is an important lever for the deployment and landing of space computing power. In mid March, the Space Computing Joint Laboratory of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation and Shanghai Jiao Tong University successfully completed a technical experiment: remotely calling space computing power through natural language instructions to control ground humanoid robots. Liu Jingjing, Chief Operating Officer of Guoxing Aerospace, believes that this test has verified the potential application of space computing power and the huge business opportunities behind it. For example, space computing power has broken through location limitations and can empower robots to work continuously in emergency rescue, ocean operations, unmanned mines, and other scenarios. Facing the future, space computing power is nurturing new opportunities. We will strengthen system planning, make forward-looking layouts, deepen industrial cultivation, further coordinate efforts, and solidly and orderly promote the development of the space computing industry. ”Zhao Ce said. He further stated that the organization will conduct research on technological evolution and industrial trends, and plan policy measures to guide the construction and application of space computing power; Promote the research and development of technologies and products such as spaceborne anti radiation chips and inter satellite laser communication; We also need to explore the application of space computing power in scenarios such as real-time remote sensing processing, communication enhancement, and spatiotemporal information, and accelerate the cultivation of the space computing power industry ecosystem. (New Society)