China launches integrated comms-sensing-compute demo satellite

China sent nine satellites into space on Sunday aboard the Kinetica-1 Y-18 carrier rocket, which was launched from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Experimental Zone in northwest China.

Among them, PEGA-SUS1 has drawn particular attention as a technology demonstrator aimed at advancing an integrated "communication-sensing-intelligence-computing" system.

PEGA-SUS1 was jointly developed by GalaxySpace, Pengcheng Laboratory, the Southern University of Science and Technology, and other partners.

Weighing about 150 kilograms, the satellite carries multiple payloads, including a 5G non-terrestrial network (NTN) communications payload based on 3GPP standards, a high-speed laser communications payload for space-to-ground links, and an on-orbit computing payload.

According to GalaxySpace, the mission will explore a "one satellite, multiple functions" design concept and is expected to support further testing of next-generation integrated space-ground connectivity technologies.