Google is exploring a “moonshot” plan to build artificial intelligence data centers in space – the latest move in its ongoing scramble to keep pace with OpenAI and other rivals.
Dubbed “Project Suncatcher,” the still-experimental plan would aim to create a series of “solar-powered satellites” equipped with Google’s AI computer chips that could “harness the full power of the sun,” according to a little-noticed Nov. 4 blog post from the tech giant.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai admitted the company faces “significant challenges” to make it a reality, including “thermal management” of its chips and “on-orbit system reliability.”
“Like any moonshot, it’s going to require us to solve a lot of complex engineering challenges,” Pichai wrote on X. “Early research shows our Trillium-generation TPUs (our tensor processing units, purpose-built for AI) survived without damage when tested in a particle accelerator to simulate low-earth orbit levels of radiation.”
The company plans to launch two test satellites in 2027 to conduct more research on the project’s feasibility.
Huge amounts of energy are required to maintain current AI models and fuel the development of theoretical “artificial general intelligence” – or AI with human-level or better capabilities.
The exorbitant requirements have led to ballooning costs for top firms like Google, Meta and OpenAI, which have spooked some investors on Wall Street and contributed to fears that the much-hyped AI revolution is actually a “bubble” that will eventually burst.
Google alone has outlined $91 to $93 billion in capital expenditures in fiscal 2025 as it pours money into AI development. Industrywide spending on data centers is expected to top a jaw-dropping $3 trillion over the next three years, according to Morgan Stanley.
Google pointed to the “rapid increase in data center energy demand” as the catalyst behind “Project Suncatcher.”
“While there are a number of challenges that would need to be addressed to realize this ‘moonshot,’ in the long run it may be the most scalable solution, with the additional benefit of minimizing the impact on terrestrial resources such as land and water,” Google researchers said in a white paper.
Based on current projections, satellite launches may be affordable enough to make Google’s plans for space-based AI data centers economically viable by the mid-2030s.
Earlier this month, Elon Musk said SpaceX “will be doing” data centers by “scaling up” its Starlink satellites, though he did not provide a timeline.
