Google plans to construct data centers in space by 2027
The CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai, shared an exciting plan to launch solar-powered data center satellites into space by early 2027 as part of Project Suncatcher. He informed Fox News that this ambitious project could revolutionize AI infrastructure development.
Under Project Suncatcher, Google will introduce two prototype satellites in 2027, teaming up with Planet, a satellite imagery firm, to experiment with AI hardware in space.
The satellites will carry Google’s Trillium-generation TPU chips, which successfully passed radiation tests that imitated low-Earth orbit conditions without damage.
In space, solar panels can generate as much as 8 times more energy than they do on Earth, thanks to nearly continuous sunlight and minimal downtime.
For the project to be financially competitive, launch costs would need to decrease to about $200 per kg by 2035 — a target that Google believes SpaceX can achieve.
According to Pichai, in ten years, we might see extraterrestrial data centers as a regular thing, harnessing solar energy that is “100 trillion times more” than the total electricity output of Earth.
Google is facing significant engineering hurdles, but if they manage to overcome them, the tech giant could alleviate the burden on Earth’s power grids.
