Could AI data centers be built in space? Google is testing it right now

Google is testing whether moving artificial intelligence data centers into outer space can solve land, power and pollution conflicts facing terrestrial communities.

Google’s ‘Project Suncatcher’

The backstory:

Last year, Google announced “Project Suncatcher,” a long-term project to eventually see if it’s possible to create AI systems in space, linked by networks of satellites.

“Project Suncatcher is a long-term, research moonshot exploring whether space could one day host scalable machine learning infrastructure. In low Earth orbit, satellites can access near-constant sunlight, generating up to eight times more solar power than on Earth. Eventually, it could be possible to link together multiple constellations of satellites, allowing them to manage larger AI workloads while in orbit.,” reads Google’s Project Suncatcher website.

Google launches AI hardware into space

What we know:

On Thursday, Google launched a bunch of its Google Tensor Processing Units (TPUs)…