Google sends four TPUs to orbit on a SpaceX rocket for Project Suncatcher
Google says Trillium chips can take more radiation than a five-year space mission delivers, and four of them are due to fly on Transporter-18 as the first test of orbital AI computing.
Google is putting four of its Tensor Processing Units into orbit on SpaceX's Transporter-18 rideshare, the first hardware test of Project Suncatcher, Techzine reported. The chips ride on a satellite built with Planet. Reports said the Falcon 9 was due to lift off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 11:15 a.m. Pacific on 1 October. We have not seen confirmation of orbit.
The aim is narrow. Google says it wants to learn whether its AI chips survive launch and run reliably in orbit, not to show a working data centre. Reports say launch forces can reach 10 times gravity for the rocket and 50 to 100 g for individual components, and the test looks for faults in a space radiation environment.
Before launch, Google tested Trillium TPUs in a proton beam at UC Davis's Crocker Nuclear Laboratory, running AI workloads and watching for bit flips. According to Google, as relayed by Techzine, the chips tolerate more radiation than a five-year mission would deliver. That is the company's claim about its own hardware, and orbit is the real test.
The pitch is power. Google says satellites in low Earth orbit get near-constant sunlight and can produce up to eight times more solar energy than panels on the ground, which could ease strain on terrestrial grids. Cooling in a vacuum needs heat pipes and radiators, and Google lists high-bandwidth laser links between satellites as a further challenge.
Google plans two more satellites in 2027 to test laser connections between orbiting units, Techzine said. SpaceX and Starcloud are chasing similar orbital data-centre ideas, and the report quotes experts who say commercial use is years away because of launch costs and technical obstacles.