The company „Google" (Google) will launch a prototype satellite in order to evaluate how its artificial intelligence (AI) chips perform in space, DPA reported.
„In low Earth orbit, the satellites have access to almost constant sunlight, generating up to eight times more solar energy than on Earth", „Google" said in a blog post, quoted by BTA.
According to the company in the future it may become possible to connect multiple constellations of satellites, which will allow them to handle a larger volume of tasks related to artificial intelligence while in orbit.
Next week aboard the carrier rocket „Falcon 9" of the company „SpaceX" (SpaceX) will be loaded with Tensor Processing Units (TPU) chips to test how they handle the physical stress of spaceflight, as well as the radiation and extreme temperatures of space, Google said.
Space radiation can damage or disrupt electronics, including causing data errors.
"Some things can only be tested in space. The goal of this first launch is to see what works, identify potential weaknesses, and use the results in future missions," the company said.
Cooling orbital data centers and enabling very high-bandwidth communication between satellites over extremely short distances also pose "engineering challenges," the company noted. „Google".
„Making space a suitable place for scalable AI computing won't happen overnight. It takes methodical engineering work that starts with proving that our hardware can withstand the physical conditions and unpredictable environment of orbit," the company said.
This first orbital test marks the beginning of the „Suncatcher" project, a research initiative aimed at exploring whether space could potentially host large-scale AI computing infrastructure, Reuters noted.
Companies such as „SpaceX" and „Starcloud" are developing plans to deploy data centers in low Earth orbit. Their goal is to use the near-constant sunlight to power energy-intensive AI computing and circumvent ground-based power constraints.
The first mission, Suncatcher, is designed to collect data in orbit and identify potential errors, not to demonstrate a "working orbital data center," Google said.