Alphabet’s Google said Thursday it will launch a prototype satellite next week in its first in-orbit test of Project Suncatcher — a research push to see whether space could host large-scale AI computing, Reuters reported.
The mission is slated for SpaceX’s upcoming Transporter-18 rideshare with Planet Labs and will assess how Google’s AI hardware withstands launch forces, radiation, and extreme temperatures in low Earth orbit. After launch, a prototype satellite carrying Google Tensor Processing Units will test whether the chips can operate reliably in space — where radiation can cause data errors known as bit flips. Google said it ground-tested TPUs running AI workloads at the University of California, Davis, but orbital testing is needed for the real environment.
Cooling is a separate challenge: with no airflow in vacuum, the design combines heat pipes with radiators. Experts say commercial orbital data centers remain years away given launch costs, engineering limits, and satellite production bottlenecks. The first Suncatcher flight is meant to gather data and spot failure points, not prove an operational orbital data center. Google aims to launch two satellites in 2027 to test high-bandwidth laser links for future computing clusters. SpaceX and Starcloud are also pursuing LEO data centers to tap near-continuous sunlight and sidestep terrestrial power constraints.
Sources: Reuters (Akash Sriram)
Leave a Reply