Google's Space-Age Data Centers Get a Boost with Project Suncatcher Launch

Google's ambitious Project Suncatcher is taking its next step towards establishing AI data centers in outer space. The tech giant announced that a prototype satellite carrying Google Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) will launch into low Earth orbit next week via SpaceX's Transporter-18 rideshare mission.

The mission aims to test the durability of TPUs under the harsh conditions of space, including intense vibrations and forces up to 10 times stronger than Earth's gravity. The chips will also face high levels of radiation from solar events and cosmic rays, which can damage electronics or cause data errors known as bit flips.

Google has previously tested its Trillium TPUs at UC Davis's Crocker Nuclear Laboratory by exposing them to a proton beam while the chips ran AI workloads. The team monitored how errors affected those workloads and found that the chips held up 'remarkably well,' surviving a total radiation dose greater than what they would typically encounter during a five-year space mission.

One of the key challenges in space is cooling, as there is no airflow to dissipate heat generated by AI chips. Google is working on new cooling systems, including heat pipes and radiators, which have been tested in a thermal vacuum chamber simulating the space environment.