As reported on Google’s official blog
Google has announced the launch of an ambitious project, Suncatcher, which envisions placing satellites in space that will run on solar energy and will power artificial intelligence systems.
According to company representatives, these satellites with solar panels could produce energy eight times more efficiently than similar ground-based solutions, which could turn space into a region with substantial potential computing power for AI.
The first exploratory step envisions launching two prototype satellites as part of a partnership with Planet by early 2027.
Challenges and Expectations
Travis Bilz, Google’s Senior Director of AI Development, calls Suncatcher part of Google’s long-standing tradition of tackling large-scale science and engineering challenges. He notes that, as with other ambitious projects, unknown factors may arise, but it is this very spirit that has led the company to undertake the large-scale build: Google previously worked on quantum computing over 15 years ago and developed autonomous transportation solutions.
Among the main challenges are the need to deliver performance comparable to ground data centers and to overcome the impact of space radiation on equipment. It is also noted that creating data centers in space is currently expensive, but they expect that by the mid-2030s the costs of maintaining them may align with the benefits compared to terrestrial counterparts.
Despite these obstacles, Google sees significant potential in space data centers to accelerate AI development and expand the scale of computing capabilities in the future.
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