Planetek Italia, together with D-Orbit and AIKO, has successfully demonstrated persistent, low-latency connectivity between Earth and AI-eXpress in orbit, marking a significant step towards software-defined space services and continuous spacecraft-to-cloud operations.

Planetek Italia has successfully achieved a major milestone in the development of AI-eXpress, demonstrating persistent, real-time connectivity with its latest orbital node, AIX-1+, deployed aboard D-Orbit's Intelligent Network Node (INN04 ION SCV-021).

The demonstration was carried out within the AI-eXpress project, co-funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) InCubed programme, and led by Planetek Italia in partnership with D-Orbit and AIKO.

Using the data relay service provided by Viasat's GEO satellites, the team established a live connection with the onboard computer without relying on a ground station, demonstrating a new operational model for in-orbit computing and cloud-connected space services.

Demonstrating continuous spacecraft connectivity

The live demonstration achieved several important technical results:

• Connection established in approximately 12 seconds.
• Persistent connection maintained for 10 minutes using an always-on approach.
• Round-trip communications over approximately 140,000 km with latency consistently below six seconds.

During the same session, the team remotely requested onboard data processing, housekeeping telemetry, analytics and file transfers, all performed in real time through a continuous communication channel.

Operations that would traditionally require multiple ground-station passes were completed during a single persistent session, demonstrating how continuous connectivity can significantly improve the responsiveness and operational flexibility of future satellite missions.

From isolated spacecraft to connected computing nodes

The demonstration represents an important evolution for AI-eXpress.

Rather than operating as an isolated spacecraft, AIX-1+ now functions as a node within a persistent orbital computing infrastructure, where applications, data and processing capabilities can be accessed dynamically through continuous connectivity.

This approach supports Planetek's SPACEDGE™ vision, enabling a new generation of services, including:

• Real-time dynamic tasking;
• Tip-and-cue operations between satellites and between Earth and space assets;
• Real-time analytics delivery;
• Continuous spacecraft health monitoring;
• On-demand deployment of processing algorithms and workflows;
• Continuous spacecraft-to-cloud interaction;
• Future multi-node collaboration and distributed in-orbit processing;
• Software-defined space services.

Building the future Space Cloud ecosystem

The milestone also demonstrates the value of combining complementary expertise across the emerging Space Cloud ecosystem.

By integrating Planetek's AI-eXpress platform with D-Orbit's orbital computing infrastructure and leveraging commercial communication services, the project showcases how continuous connectivity can reduce dependence on traditional ground-station windows while enabling more responsive, intelligent and autonomous space operations.

The achievement represents another important step towards a future in which satellites operate as permanently connected edge-computing platforms, supporting new applications for Earth Observation, rapid information delivery and distributed intelligence in orbit.

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