Google tests satellite artificial intelligence server in orbit
Google has successfully booted up artificial intelligence chips on an orbiting satellite. The hardware ran a local language model to generate its very first response from space.
1 min read·Saturday, 31 October
Google team members celebrate the successful launch and initial AI response from the Project Suncatcher satellite.
Google has successfully booted up artificial intelligence hardware in orbit, marking an early step in an experimental initiative that could eventually place artificial intelligence data centers in space.
The experimental initiative, known as Project Suncatcher, launched into orbit earlier this month. In a blog post published on Friday, Google announced that it successfully booted up the satellite’s Tensor Processing Units — custom chips designed to accelerate artificial intelligence workloads.
Once the processors were running, the on-board Gemma 4 model followed through on a prompt to create a haiku about being in space:
Blue marble below
Data streams in silent grace
Starlight feeds my core.
Future testing and milestones
During the initial test phase, the system also handled telemetry prompts and generated other space-themed verses. Google stated that upcoming tests will evaluate how the processor hardware performs under the thermal stress and radiation exposure found in orbit.
Verifying that these specialized chips can reliably execute workloads in space paves the way for the next major milestone: twin interconnected satellites scheduled for launch in 2027.
Google AI Edge Gallery & Gemma 4 Setup GuideFree guide
Comments