A lighthearted exchange between Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) CEO Sundar Pichai and SpaceX chief Elon Musk followed Google's bold new plan to build the world's first AI data center in space.
Google's Project Suncatcher Takes AI Beyond Earth
On Tuesday, in a post on X, formerly Twitter, Pichai unveiled Project Suncatcher, an initiative to establish an AI data center in low Earth orbit powered directly by the sun.
"Our TPUs are headed to space!" Pichai quipped, referring to Google's Tensor Processing Units — custom-built chips that drive the company's machine learning models.
He explained that the project aims to explore "how we could one day build scalable ML compute systems in space, harnessing more of the sun's power." According to Pichai, early testing showed Google's Trillium-generation TPUs survived radiation levels comparable to those found in orbit.
The company plans to launch two prototype satellites by early 2027 in collaboration with Planet Labs, marking the next milestone in its pursuit of zero-carbon, solar-powered AI infrastructure.
Massive Challenges, But Big Ambitions
While calling the effort a "moonshot," Pichai acknowledged major technical hurdles ahead, including thermal management and on-orbit reliability.
He said further breakthroughs will be needed before such space-based compute systems can operate at scale.
Elon Musk Joins The Conversation
Shortly after Pichai's post, Musk chimed in with a brief but viral reply: "Great idea lol."
Pichai responded in kind, adding, "Only possible because of SpaceX's massive advances in launch technology!" — a nod to SpaceX's reusable rockets that have drastically reduced the cost of reaching orbit.
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