Google said on September 24 that it planned to launch a prototype satellite next week on SpaceX’s Transporter-18 rideshare mission with Planet Labs, a US satellite imaging company.

The launch would mark the first in-orbit test of Project Suncatcher, Google’s effort to study whether large-scale AI computing infrastructure could operate in low Earth orbit.

The satellite would carry Google Tensor Processing Units so the company could assess how the chips handle launch forces, radiation, extreme temperatures, and cooling in space.

Google said it had already tested the processors while running AI workloads at the University of California, Davis.

The mission would not be the first for AI processing in orbit.

Satellite operators and government agencies had already moved processing onto spacecraft for tasks such as imagery analysis and disaster response.

Google said the test was meant to gather data and identify failure points, not demonstrate an operational orbital data center.

The company was also planning a 2027 mission with two satellites to test high-bandwidth laser links.

🔗 Source: Reuters

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