This moonshot, part of the company’s growing interest in space exploration, seeks to leverage the vast power of space to scale AI in ways that were once unimaginable.

At the heart of Project Suncatcher is the idea of an interconnected network of solar-powered satellites, each equipped with Google’s Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) AI chips.

Google has said these satellites will harness the Sun’s power, facilitating computation in space that could unlock a new era of AI capabilities.

This research comes after Google’s earlier ventures into revolutionary technologies such as autonomous vehicles and quantum computing.

The initial phase of the project is focused on developing the foundational technologies required to make this ambitious vision a reality.

Key areas of research include satellite constellation design, communication protocols, and radiation testing for Google’s TPUs.

The company shared some of these early findings in a preprint paper, detailing the ongoing research into the viability of satellite-based AI computation.

Looking ahead, Google plans a major step forward with a learning mission in collaboration with Planet, where two prototype satellites will be launched by early 2027.

These satellites will test the hardware in orbit and provide critical data to support the scalability of AI systems in space.

Project Suncatcher represents a bold step toward expanding AI’s reach beyond Earth’s boundaries, signaling Google’s commitment to exploring the next frontier of technological innovation in space.