Google will test its TPUs in orbit on SpaceX's Transporter-18
Sundar Pichai says a Planet-built prototype will fly next week, beginning an orbital test of Google's plan to put AI computing in space.
By Ryan Merket · Published
Primary source: X
Why it matters
Google is testing whether its AI accelerators and cooling hardware can work in orbit, an early technical hurdle for its proposed satellite-based computing system. The flight will not prove that orbital AI compute can compete economically with terrestrial data centers.
Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai), Google's CEO, said on September 24th that Project Suncatcher will send a prototype carrying Google's Tensor Processing Units into orbit on SpaceX's Transporter-18 rideshare mission. Built in partnership with Planet, the spacecraft is meant to test whether the chips can operate through launch and in space, not to demonstrate a working orbital data center.
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