PowerBank Backs Launch of Solar-Powered AI Satellite Network

TORONTO, ON – December 26, 2025 – In a move that bridges terrestrial renewable energy with the burgeoning space economy, PowerBank Corporation has announced a significant milestone in its collaboration with the Singapore-based Smartlink AI. The partnership celebrated the successful launch and deployment of the DeStarlink Genesis-1 satellite, the inaugural node in an ambitious "Orbital Cloud" network designed to host artificial intelligence data centers in low-Earth orbit.

The satellite, which launched on December 10, 2025, has been confirmed to be operational, generating solar power as it circles the globe. This achievement marks a critical proof-of-concept for a venture that aims to combine decentralized communication, space-based AI computation, and blockchain verification, all powered by clean energy harvested beyond Earth's atmosphere. The initiative places PowerBank, a North American energy infrastructure developer, at the nexus of several rapidly growing, high-tech sectors.

"The successful deployment of Genesis-1 validates a vision we announced just weeks ago--that solar-powered infrastructure can extend beyond Earth's surface to power the next generation of computing," commented Dr. Richard Lu, CEO of PowerBank. "This isn't just about launching a satellite; it's about proving that clean energy technology can enable entirely new categories of digital infrastructure. The Orbital Cloud represents the convergence of three megatrends: renewable energy, artificial intelligence, and decentralized computing."

The Dawn of the Orbital Cloud

The Genesis-1 satellite is the first step in creating a sprawling orbital network intended to overcome the physical and geographical limitations of terrestrial data infrastructure. Developed by Smartlink AI, which operates under the name Orbit AI, the satellite integrates three core functions into a single orbital platform.

First is DeStarlink Connectivity, a decentralized communication system designed to provide global, censorship-resistant internet access. Second, and central to the mission's novelty, is DeStarAI Computing. This involves creating solar-powered AI data centers that leverage the natural vacuum and cold of space for cooling, a major advantage over Earth-based centers that consume vast amounts of energy to prevent overheating. Finally, the satellite includes Blockchain Verification capabilities, with an onboard Ethereum wallet and blockchain node to execute and verify transactions with the security and immutability of an orbital asset.

The successful deployment and operation of Genesis-1 serve as a crucial validation of this complex technical architecture. With its initial AI inference payloads and blockchain functions now active in low-Earth orbit (LEO), the satellite demonstrates the viability of conducting autonomous, solar-powered computation entirely independent of terrestrial energy grids and infrastructure. This achievement lays the foundational groundwork for a planned constellation of similar satellites, aiming to build a truly global and sovereign computing network.

A High-Stakes Bet on Space-Based Computing

The vision behind the Orbital Cloud is to tap into a confluence of markets projected to be worth hundreds of billions of dollars. The press release highlights market analysis projecting the global satellite market to exceed $615 billion by 2032, with the niche but rapidly growing in-orbit data center market expected to climb towards $39.1 billion by 2035. By combining connectivity, data services, and computing, Orbit AI and PowerBank are positioning themselves to capture a piece of a technological revolution.

The core advantage of this space-based approach is twofold. Satellites in LEO can harvest solar energy continuously without atmospheric interference or the day-night cycle constraints of ground-based solar farms. This provides a constant, reliable power source for energy-intensive AI processing and data management. Furthermore, the extreme cold of space offers a passive, hyper-efficient cooling solution. On Earth, data centers are notoriously power-hungry, with a significant portion of their operational costs dedicated to cooling systems to manage the immense heat generated by servers. By placing these servers in orbit, the need for such complex and costly cooling infrastructure is eliminated, potentially leading to more efficient and sustainable computation.

This initiative represents a bold step towards migrating critical digital infrastructure off-planet, a concept that is rapidly moving from science fiction to business reality. The success of Genesis-1 is a tangible signal that the technical hurdles, while significant, are not insurmountable.

PowerBank's Strategic Pivot to the Stars

For PowerBank Corporation, a company whose expertise lies in developing community solar projects and battery storage systems across North America, this collaboration marks a dramatic and futuristic expansion of its strategic horizons. While the company has a development pipeline of over one gigawatt on the ground, its involvement with Orbit AI extends its focus on clean energy into the aerospace domain.

PowerBank's planned contribution is not in the satellite's core AI or communication technology, but in the "Execution Layer"—the critical systems that power and cool the orbital hardware. The company intends to leverage its deep expertise in advanced solar energy systems and apply it to the unique challenges of space. This includes designing lightweight, highly efficient, space-grade solar panels and developing adaptive thermal control solutions to manage heat dissipation for increasingly powerful satellite payloads.

However, the partnership is still in its nascent stages. In its announcement, PowerBank clarified that it has not made a direct financial investment in Orbit AI at this time. Furthermore, the commercial terms for any services or technology PowerBank may provide for the growing constellation have not yet been determined. This positions PowerBank as a key strategic and technical partner with deep domain expertise, rather than a financial backer, allowing it to participate in the high-growth potential of the orbital market while mitigating direct investment risk in the capital-intensive aerospace venture.

An Accelerated Timeline and Ambitious Roadmap

One of the most remarkable aspects of the Genesis-1 mission is the speed of its execution. PowerBank first announced its collaboration with Orbit AI on November 19, 2025. Less than a month later, on December 10, the first satellite was successfully deployed in orbit. This compressed timeline suggests a high degree of pre-launch preparation and technological maturity, validating PowerBank's confidence in its chosen partner.

With the first phase accomplished, Orbit AI has laid out an aggressive roadmap for expanding its Orbital Cloud. The plan for 2026 involves launching an additional five to eight orbital nodes, each with enhanced computing power and expanded connectivity capabilities. Between 2027 and 2028, the focus will shift to the full constellation rollout and the commercialization of its services, which are expected to include sovereign, secure connectivity and specialized in-orbit data processing for governments and corporations.

Looking further ahead to 2028-2030, the vision includes implementing autonomous network governance protocols, enabling the constellation to operate with a high degree of independence. As the constellation scales and satellite payloads become more powerful to handle sophisticated AI workloads, PowerBank’s role in optimizing solar power generation and thermal management is expected to become increasingly critical, solidifying its position as a key enabler of this next-generation digital infrastructure. The success of this long-term vision will depend on sustained execution, technological innovation, and the ability to secure the significant financing required for large-scale satellite deployments.