The first Malaysian individual to send a satellite.
Not a national space agency, not a corporation. KENSAT is the first satellite from a Malaysian individual, and proof that orbit is now within reach of one person.
First open source AI satellite in orbit
Built and launched by the first Malaysian individual to send a satellite to space.
KENSAT is a 2U CubeSat carrying Gemma 3, an open-weights language model, into low earth orbit. It performs inference in space, and beams the answer back down to Earth.
Altitude
~513 km
Orbit
Sun-synchronous
Form factor
2U CubeSat
Origin
Malaysia
01 · Where is KENSATstatusIn orbit
─ sun-synchronous orbit · ~513 km · one orbit ≈ 95 min
In orbit. Launched 1 Oct 2026 at 18:32 UTC on SpaceX Transporter-18 from Vandenberg SFB, and deployed at 19:26 UTC.
Orbit: Sun-synchronous, inclination 97.44°, mean altitude ~513 km (about 517–546 km above the ground over each orbit), period 94.95 min (~15.17 orbits/day).
The position shown may not be up to date.
02 · Mission overview
Why KENSAT?
A language model, thinking in space.
Almost every AI in orbit today belongs to a government, a defense program, or a billion-dollar company. KENSAT carries its own, and it runs onboard.
Everyone should have an AI that is sovereign.
A computer that no one else can access or switch off. Sovereign compute is the new sovereign money, and it shouldn't be reserved for states and corporations.
A demonstration of edge AI in space.
Running real inference on hardware in orbit, far from any data center, shows that useful AI can run at the edge. This is about as far out on the edge as you can get.
03 · What is on KENSAT6 modules
From the antennas down to the bus.
Antennas01/06
Tape-measure antennas for the radio. This is how KENSAT talks to the ground.
- -UHF antennas built from spring-steel tape strips
- -Stowed flat against the body for launch
- -No motors, no actuators, no moving parts that can fail
Deployment system02/06
Once KENSAT leaves its deployer, the antennas spring open.
- -Burn-wire release frees the stowed antennas
- -Tape strips snap to full length on their own
- -They open up as the satellite tumbles free
Payload board03/06
The main computer. This is where the AI runs.
- -NVIDIA Jetson Orin running Gemma 3, the onboard language model
- -Radio systems for uplink and downlink
- -IMU for attitude sensing and orientation
EPS (power system)04/06
Stores power and distributes it to everything onboard.
- -4× rechargeable batteries
- -Charging from body-mounted solar panels
PPM05/06
Power protection and management. Keeps the bus safe and stable.
- -PIC24 microcontroller handles all peripheral operations
- -Guards the spacecraft against power faults
Motherboard06/06
The CubeSat bus that everything else plugs into.
- -Standard CubeSat bus interconnect
- -Ties the payload, EPS, and radios into one stack
04 · Deploymentconfirmed
KENSAT deployment confirmed
Transporter-18 onboard view · 1 Oct 2026 · deployed 19:26 UTCWatch the livestream ↗
05 · Why KENSATRunning an AI, and a satellite, at the edge.
The big idea
What if the world's frontier models ran in orbit?
Imagine OpenAI, Microsoft, Google or Anthropic running their models in a data center in space. KENSAT is a first small step toward that.
Running the AI model
T01Gemma 3, Google's open-weights language model, runs on the NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano onboard, so inference happens in orbit and not on the ground.
Can you operate a satellite using AI?
T02KENSAT is a testbed for letting an onboard model help run the spacecraft itself.
Radiation in SSO
T03See how radiation in sun-synchronous orbit, at the altitude we care about, affects the compute hardware.
Thermal
T04Measure how the payload handles the heat and cold it goes through on every orbit.
06 · Gallery04 photos