The SCA-2 satellite



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Test frame from the SCA-2 satellite (aka Xingshidai 21; NORAD ID 61232), once deployed in orbit, in 2024. Credit: Star Chain of Arts Project, Xu Bing, and ADA Space.


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The SCA-2 satellite (aka Xingshidai 21; NORAD ID 61232) undergoing tests at Baina Electronic Technology Co., China, in 2024. Credit: ADA Space.


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The completed Xingshidai-21 and its twin Xingshidai-22, unveiled at Guoxing Aerospace's Jiaxing Satellite Pilot Plant, China, in 2024. Guoxing Aerospace is also known as ADA Space. Credit: ADA Space.


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On September 24, 2024, China launched its fourth Jielong-3 solid rocket, putting eight remote sensing satellites into sun-synchronous orbit (i.e., an orbit where a satellite passes over the same Earth region at the same local solar time each day). The fourth Jielong-3 (Smart Dragon-3) lifted off at 10:31 p.m. Eastern, Sept. 23 (0231 UTC, Sept. 24) from a specially converted sea platform off the coast of Haiyang city, in the Eastern province of Shandong. Credit: First Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.



Watch the Smart Dragon-3 rocket blast off from a specially converted sea platform off the coast of Haiyang city, in the Eastern province of Shandong, on September 24, 2024. Credit: First Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

The SCA-2 satellite (aka Xingshidai 21; NORAD ID 61232) is part of the Star Chain of Arts Project, led by artist Xu Bing. He also initiated the Xu Bing Space Art Residency Program, through which he invites artists and people from various fields to create artworks using this satellite. SCA-2's orbit is approximately 400 kilometers in altitude; it completes one orbit around Earth every 93 minutes.

Eduardo Kac's The Silent Circle is an artwork that embodies the three fundamental phases of a person's life: Youth, Maturity, and Elderhood. Three AI-driven animations, displayed on a screen directly exposed to the harsh space environment on the satellite's exterior, evoke these phases through mission activations in 2024 (MORNING), 2025 (MIDDAY), and 2026 (MIDNIGHT). Across these three years, the artwork weaves the arc of a human lifetime into a phased spaceborne journey. Kac used the SCA-2 satellite for the last mission: MIDNIGHT.