Google’s Orbital AI Test Runs on Just 1kW of Power

Google is about to find out whether an AI chip can survive a rocket launch, six months of radiation, and the vacuum of low Earth orbit — all while trying to answer a search query. On October 1, 2026, a satellite carrying four of Google’s custom Tensor Processing Units is scheduled to ride aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-18 rideshare mission, marking the first real-world hardware test for Project Suncatcher, Google’s research effort to find out whether space could one day host large-scale AI computing infrastructure.