Next week, Google will launch an experimental satellite as part of its initiative to establish AI data centers in space. Collaborating with SpaceX, the satellite will be sent aboard its Falcon 9 rocket on October 1, 2026. This mission, known as Project Suncatcher, aims to explore the feasibility of cooling data centers in orbit, a significant challenge since there is no airflow in space.
The satellite, named MVP, will contain four tensor processing units (TPUs), which are specialized chips equivalent to a server’s processing power. It will be powered by solar panels, generating one kilowatt of energy for its operations.
While in orbit, the TPUs will process AI queries for 15 minutes at a time before needing to cool down. After one year of operation, the satellite will continue to orbit for another six years before re-entering Earth’s atmosphere and burning up.
Elon Musk previously stated that combining SpaceX and his AI company xAI was aimed at facilitating the placement of AI data centers in space due to the unsustainable power demands of terrestrial solutions. While this launch is a significant step toward Musk’s and Google’s vision, it’s still early days, and feasible large-scale implementation could take years or even decades.
