Google plans first test of AI chips in space under Project Suncatcher

Google said it tested TPUs at UC Davis but needed orbital tests to assess their performance in space

Alphabet's Google said on Thursday it will launch a prototype satellite next week in its first in-orbit test of Project Suncatcher, ​a research effort to explore whether space could potentially host ‌large-scale AI computing infrastructure.

Companies including SpaceX and Starcloud are pursuing plans to deploy data centers in low Earth orbit, aiming to harness near-continuous sunlight to power ​energy-intensive AI computing and sidestep terrestrial constraints on electricity supplies.

The ​new mission, scheduled to fly on SpaceX's upcoming Transporter-18 rideshare ⁠launch in partnership with satellite company Planet Labs, will assess how ​Google's AI hardware withstands launch forces, radiation and extreme temperatures in ​LEO.

After the launch, it will send a prototype satellite carrying Google Tensor Processing Units into low Earth orbit to assess if the AI chips can operate reliably ​in space.

Space radiation can disrupt or degrade electronics, including by causing ​data errors known as bit flips.

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Google said it tested its TPUs while running AI ‌workloads ⁠in a facility at the University of California, Davis, but that orbital testing was needed to understand how the hardware performs in the real environment.

The company will also evaluate its design to cool the power-intensive ​chips in the ​vacuum of ⁠space, where conventional airflow cooling is impossible, by combining heat pipes with radiators.

But experts have said that the ​concept remains years from being commercially viable given ​high launch ⁠costs, engineering constraints and satellite production bottlenecks.

The first Suncatcher mission is designed to gather in-orbit data and identify potential failure points, rather than demonstrate ⁠an ​operational orbital data center, Google said.

It aims ​to launch two satellites in 2027 to test the high-bandwidth laser links needed to connect ​future computing clusters.