Google launches first orbital test of AI data centres in space
Google has put AI compute into orbit. A fridge-sized MVP satellite carrying four of Google's TPUs lifted off from Vandenberg on Thursday aboard SpaceX's Transporter-18 rideshare mission.
The flight is the first orbital test by a major tech company of space-based AI data centres — an effort dubbed Project Suncatcher. The logic is energy: in low Earth orbit, solar panels can generate up to eight times more power than on the ground, with near-constant sunlight.
If the test works, it opens a radical answer to AI's exploding power demand — moving the most energy-hungry computation off the planet's grid entirely.
Originally reported by TMJ4 (Scripps). Article compiled by the Deccan Age desk.
