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Google to test AI chips in space with first Project Suncatcher satellite

Google will launch a prototype satellite carrying its Tensor Processing Units on SpaceX's Transporter-18 rideshare next week, the first in-orbit test of its Project Suncatcher research effort.

By James Calloway · · 2 min read

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California
U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Ian Dudley (public domain)

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

The mission will fly on SpaceX’s Transporter-18 rideshare launch in partnership with satellite company Planet Labs, sending a prototype satellite carrying Google Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) into low Earth orbit. Spaceflight databases list the launch for 1 October from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Southern California, according to Barron’s.

The flight will assess how Google’s AI hardware withstands launch forces, radiation and extreme temperatures in orbit — including data errors known as bit flips. Google said it tested its TPUs while running AI workloads at a facility at the University of California, Davis, and will also evaluate a cooling design that combines heat pipes with radiators, since conventional airflow cooling is impossible in the vacuum of space.

The company stressed the first mission is designed to gather in-orbit data and identify potential failure points, rather than demonstrate an operational orbital data centre. Two more satellites are planned for 2027 to test the high-bandwidth laser links needed to connect future computing clusters.

SpaceX and Starcloud are pursuing their own orbital data-centre plans, but experts say the concept remains years from commercial viability given high launch costs, engineering constraints and satellite production bottlenecks.

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