Google Tests Orbital AI Data Center with Solar-Powered Satellite

Google is launching an experimental satellite called MVP next week to test running an AI data center in space. The satellite will be aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Once in orbit, the tech on board the satellite will handle simple AI requests.

The New York Times notes that while this is an important milestone, the satellite's processing power is limited to four Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), making it similar to a single Earth-bound server. It will be powered by solar panels capable of providing 1,000 watts of power to the tensor chips.

James Manyika, Google's senior vice president of research, expects to learn more about how space may become a home for future data centers, though probably not in the next few years. 'We don't expect... that we'll have anything usefully operational in the next few years,' he told The Times.

Google plans to launch a pair of satellites next and has long-term plans for networked fleets of more than 80 satellites. Manyika estimates it will take Google 15 years to go from a four-chip server to a full-on data center.