Google will test its custom AI chips in space As it turns out, Google has been working on designing the chips since 2022.
The company is planning to send one of its test satellites to space aboard a SpaceX Transporter-18 rideshare mission scheduled for October 1, 2026. The mission is in support of “Project Suncatcher,” which has the potential to build a space-based AI data center.
The prototype, created in partnership with Earth imaging company Planet, contains four of Google’s custom-designed Tensor Processing Units (TPUs).
This one-year mission will test hardware durability under harsh space conditions — including resistance to space radiation and passive cooling methods in a vacuum without airflow.
Prior to qualifying the hardware for flight, engineers performed a series of thermal vacuum chamber tests to exercise the TPUs across the range of temperature fluctuation and atmospheric conditions experienced by orbit.
In addition to performance and radiation resistance, future iterations of Project Suncatcher will explore satellite-to-satellite laser communications.
Google intends to deploy two more Planet-built satellites in 2027 to conduct high-precision optical links between orbital nodes.
Google hopes that through the use of space-based AI accelerators, orbital solar arrays and space-based computing, Google can eventually learn whether a drone or satellite network can augment the data center networks we have on earth to support the increasing demand for processing power.
