Google launched ‘Project SunCatcher’ to test AI data centers in space

Google has launched Project SunCatcher to test AI data centers in space. Called Project SunCatcher, Google’s new moonshot is a research initiative exploring how a fleet of solar-powered satellites could establish data centers in space.

• Google has launched Project SunCatcher to test AI data centers in space. Called Project SunCatcher, Google’s new moonshot is a research initiative exploring how a fleet of solar-powered satellites could establish data centers in space.
• The new ‘moonshot’ project began because Google believed that space could be the most suitable place for the expansion of AI computing.
• It has many advantages—constant sunlight, minimal atmospheric damage, no darkness, and vacuum-based cooling, which could reduce energy costs by up to 40% compared to Earth-based data centers.
• This idea has emerged at a time when the world is grappling with the increasing environmental impact of water and electricity consumption caused by the construction of AI data centers.

‘Project SunCatcher’

• Google plans to launch two prototype satellites by early 2027 that will test its hardware in orbit.
• Just as a network of satellites transmits the internet from space, Google believes that massive computer hardware, especially TPUs, can be connected through free-space optical links capable of transferring data at tens of terabits per second, thus enabling space-based AI data centers.
• The company has already conducted radiation testing on its TPU (Trillium v6e) with “promising” results. Google tested the Trillium TPU v6e chip under a 67 MeV proton beam and found it to be surprisingly resistant. “No catastrophic failures due to TID were observed up to the maximum tested dose of 15 krad(Si),” the research paper noted.
• Google has won seven Nobel Prizes and in 2025 surpassed IBM to become the second company after Bell Labs to have Nobel laureates.

AI Data Centers

• A few years ago, tech companies set an ambitious goal of building a network of AI data centers—massive warehouses filled with computers to store and process data for websites, businesses, and governments.
• However, Silicon Valley has proposed a solution: deploying GPUs in space and building large AI data centers beyond Earth. Billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and Sam Altman plan to establish data centers in orbit and even on the moon.
• Now, Google has also joined this effort and confirmed this week that it is working on technology aimed at creating scalable networks of TPUs orbiting in space.

Google

• Google was founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
• 1995-1996: Stanford University PhD students Larry Page and Sergey Brin began collaborating on a research project for a search engine called “BackRub.” The name was based on the use of “back-links” to determine the importance of web pages.
• 1997: The project was renamed Google, derived from the mathematical term “Googol” (the number 1 followed by 100 zeros). The google.com domain was registered on September 15, 1997.
• 2001: Google opened its first international office in Tokyo. 2006: Google acquired the video-sharing platform YouTube.
• 2007: The Android mobile operating system was introduced. 2008: Google launched its web browser, Chrome, which later became the most widely used browser worldwide.
• In August 2015, Google underwent a major corporate restructuring and became the main subsidiary of a new holding company called Alphabet Inc.