Meet Project Suncatcher, Google’s plan to put AI data centers in space

However, there is the problem of physics. Received power decreases with the square of distance, so Google notes the satellites would have to maintain proximity of a kilometer or less. That would require a tighter formation than any currently operational constellation, but it should be workable. Google has developed analytical models suggesting that satellites positioned several hundred meters apart would require only “modest station-keeping maneuvers.”

Hardware designed for space is expensive and often less capable compared to terrestrial systems because the former needs to be hardened against extreme temperatures and radiation. Google’s approach to Project Suncatcher is to reuse the components used on Earth, which might not be very robust when you stuff them in a satellite. However, innovations like the Snapdragon-powered Mars Ingenuity helicopter have shown that off-the-shelf hardware may survive longer in space than we thought.

Google says Suncatcher only works if TPUs can run for at least five years, which works out to 750 rad. The company is testing this by blasting its latest v6e Cloud TPU (Trillium) in a 67MeV proton beam. Google says that while the memory was most vulnerable to damage, the experiments showed that TPUs can handle about three times as much radiation (almost 2 krad) before data corruption was detected.

Google hopes to launch a pair of prototype satellites with TPUs by early 2027. It expects the launch cost of these first AI orbiters to be quite high. However, Google is planning for the mid-2030s when launch costs are projected to drop to as little as $200 per kilogram. At that level, space-based data centers could become as economical as the terrestrial versions.

The fact is, terrestrial data centers are dirty, noisy, and ravenous for power and water. This has led many communities to oppose plans to build them near the places where people live and work. Putting them in space could solve everyone’s problems (unless you’re an astronomer).