Google’s Project Suncatcher Reaches Orbit as SpaceX Deploys 130 Payloads

Google’s race to take artificial intelligence into orbit reached a milestone on Thursday, as the company’s Project Suncatcher prototype became one of 130 payloads launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9, according to Planet Labs and specialist space coverage.

The rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 11:32 a.m. Pacific time on October 1, as part of SpaceX’s Transporter-18 dedicated rideshare mission, NASASpaceFlight reported. After stage separation, the first-stage booster flew back for a safe touchdown at Landing Zone 4 near the launch pad.

Deployed just over an hour into the flight, the Suncatcher M1 satellite — built by Planet in partnership with Google — carries four of Google’s Trillium Tensor Processing Units into low Earth orbit. Planet confirmed it made initial contact with the spacecraft and has begun the commissioning process, calling it the first-ever test of Google’s TPU AI chips in space.

The refrigerator-sized satellite is not a data centre. As Google explained in its September announcement, the mission answers a single question: whether its AI hardware can survive and operate in orbit, enduring launch vibration, radiation and extreme temperature swings. Google previously tested the chips against radiation doses greater than a five-year mission would deliver.

The next milestone comes in 2027, when Google plans to fly two satellites designed to work together, testing high-bandwidth laser links between orbital computing nodes.

Sources

• Planet Labs press release: Planet launches Suncatcher, Tanager-2 and 18 SuperDove satellites (Business Wire)
• NASASpaceFlight: Starfish Otter, other payloads launch on Transporter 18
• MarketScale: Google launches AI chips into orbit with Project Suncatcher