SpaceX launched Google AI chips to orbit with Planet Labs satellites

SpaceX’s Transporter-18 mission placed Planet Labs satellites in orbit, including a solar-powered prototype carrying Google tensor processing units (TPUs). The successful launch and deployment mark the first in-orbit test of Project Suncatcher, Alphabet’s effort to assess whether solar-powered AI computing infrastructure can operate reliably in space. Project director Travis Beals said the team had contacted the satellite and confirmed it was working as expected. Google has already run AI workloads on its TPUs at a University of California, Davis facility, but their performance in low Earth orbit remains untested.

Alphabet says satellites could receive near-constant sunlight and generate up to eight times more solar power than equipment on Earth. The long-term vision is to link satellite constellations so they can handle larger AI workloads. SpaceX is pursuing its own orbital data-center plans, using satellites with graphics processors and solar arrays, and has discussed deploying space-based supercomputing as early as 2027. The idea could ease pressure on land-based data centers, but remains technically and economically uncertain: launches are costly and limited, while orbital systems need effective cooling, protection from radiation and extreme temperatures, and ways to manage debris. Alphabet is also a major SpaceX investor, with a stake valued at more than $82 billion, even as their AI businesses compete.