Google launches satellite carrying AI chips to test performance in space

Google has launched a prototype satellite into low Earth orbit to test how its Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) work in space. The satellite carries four Google TPUs and was sent aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-18 rideshare mission. Google says its team has established contact and that the system is operating as expected. The launch is described as the first step of Project Suncatcher, a long-term research effort with Planet Labs PBC, aiming to determine whether scalable machine-learning infrastructure can eventually be hosted in space. Over the next weeks, Google will gather data on physical stress, radiation, and thermal extremes. The company also notes that near-constant sunlight in low Earth orbit can generate up to eight times more solar power than on Earth.