Google satellite with TPU writes haiku after starting operations in orbit — TechCrunch
Google’s Suncatcher orbital data center prototype began operating and communicating with Earth after being launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket earlier this month. The satellite carries one Google Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) processor, as well as Google DeepMind’s Gemma 4 AI model. As TechCrunch reports, the model’s first task was to write a haiku about being in space.
The satellite generates up to 1 kW of electricity and is intended to serve as a testbed for future networks of spacecraft that will perform large AI inference tasks in orbit. At the same time, the TPU’s power consumption allows it to be switched on for about 20 minutes at a time, complicating communication between the satellite and ground stations.
Computing in orbit
Before beginning operations, the spacecraft spent about three weeks undergoing checks of its onboard systems. A Google representative told the publication that the satellite is operating normally. In addition to the poetry task, engineers also asked the spacecraft to report on conditions in its orbit.
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Testing the processor’s resilience
The next stage of testing will assess the chip’s performance under temperature stress and in conditions of space radiation. Google has already tested the TPU on Earth using particle accelerators, but will now examine the actual effects of radiation in space. It can cause so-called bit flips — changes to values stored in memory that can potentially lead to data corruption without triggering conventional monitoring systems.
Ground tests indicated that radiation would have little impact on inference, while model training may be more vulnerable. If the TPU installed on Suncatcher confirms its operability, Google plans to launch two more satellites with improved chips in 2027. They will have more powerful energy supplies and are expected to demonstrate optical inter-satellite communication links.
