Google is taking its first step toward making Project Suncatcher a reality.
Google’s first experimental satellite will launch on October 1 with the aim of validating Google’s vision for a constellation of AI satellites.
Inside, it has four of Google’s custom TPU AI accelerators, which are used to train AI models and run inference to generate tokens for AI workloads.
MVP is starting small, with solar panels that supply only about one kilowatt of power, The New York Times reports.
Google’s AI test will launch as part of the upcoming Transporter-18 rideshare aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
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Google is taking its first step toward making Project Suncatcher a reality. Announced last year, Suncatcher is Google’s “moonshot” effort to design orbital AI data centers, which AI boosters like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have pitched as an alternative to terrestrial data centers. Google’s first experimental satellite will launch on October 1 with the aim of validating Google’s vision for a constellation of AI satellites.
The satellite, dubbed MVP, is about the size of a refrigerator. Inside, it has four of Google’s custom TPU AI accelerators, which are used to train AI models and run inference to generate tokens for AI workloads. On Earth, a data center will run thousands of these chips, which consume large amounts of power—one of the reasons putting solar-powered AI hardware in space is so attractive.
MVP is starting small, with solar panels that supply only about one kilowatt of power, The New York Times reports. Google did not build the satellite from scratch. While the AI hardware inside is Google’s, the spacecraft comes from a satellite imagery firm called Planet Labs.
The initial plan was to launch two custom satellites in 2027, but Google wanted to accelerate its efforts.
Google’s AI test will launch as part of the upcoming Transporter-18 rideshare aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Eventually, Google wants to have networks of orbiting satellites that communicate over high-speed laser connections, probably needing expensive launches.
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