• Artificial intelligence is a foundational technology that could help us tackle humanity’s greatest challenges. • Now, we’re asking where we can go next to unlock its fullest potential. • Today we’re announcingProject Suncatcher, our new research moonshot to one day scale machine learning in space. • Working backward from this potential future, we’re exploring how an interconnected network of solar-powered satellites, equipped with our Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) AI chips, could harness the full power of the Sun. • Inspired by other Google moonshots like autonomous vehicles and quantum computing, we’ve begun work on the foundational work needed to one day make this future possible. • We’re excited that this is a growing area of exploration, and our initial research, shared today in apreprint paper, describes our approach to satellite constellation design, control, and communication, and also our initial learnings from radiation testing Google TPUs.
Article Summaries:
- Google has unveiled Project Suncatcher, a research initiative aimed at scaling machine‑learning compute in space. The plan envisions a network of solar‑powered satellites fitted with Google’s Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) AI chips, designed to harness the Sun’s energy for large‑scale computation. Early work, published in a preprint, covers constellation design, control, communication, and radiation testing of TPUs. The next milestone is a learning mission in partnership with Planet, which will launch two prototype satellites by early 2027 to validate the hardware in orbit and lay groundwork for future space‑based AI infrastructure.
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