It’s been hard to avoid tech giant Google’s AI ventures lately. You might find all those new AI services and features useful, or you might find them annoying—but either way, one thing is absolutely true: they run in data centers that suck down huge amounts of power. And, apparently, the data centers here on Earth aren’t enough.
Yesterday, Google announced Project Suncatcher and its intention to explore the possibility of running AI calculations in space. Project Suncatcher will investigate whether networks of solar-powered satellites equipped with Tensor AI chips could serve as data centers in space.
In the blog post, Google mentions that there are several major challenges with the project, including that the satellites in the network will need to move in a much tighter formation than existing satellite networks, and that the Tensor chips will also need to cope with cosmic radiation while in orbit around the Earth.
Two prototype satellites will be launched into orbit by early 2027, but Google says there’s still a long way to go before the Project Suncatcher network can become operational.
Google expects that launch costs will not be low enough to make the satellite network a cost-effective alternative to data centers on Earth for a long time—at least until the mid-2030s.
Further reading: At least one Starlink satellite burns up every day