Google sent TPUs to space, CEO Sundar Pichai shares a ‘Hello World’ update; says: We have received …
Here’s what Google’s update on Project Suncatcher says
“On October 1, we launched our prototype satellite for Project Suncatcher. Google ’s Project Suncatcher has achieved its first AI response from a data center-class TPU launched in orbit earlier this month.
Sharing the milestone on X (formerly Twitter), CEO Sundar Pichai wrote: “A ‘hello world’ milestone for Project Suncatcher 🚀”. “After launching our prototype satellite a few weeks ago, we’ve now successfully sent a command up to orbit, booted up the TPU, ran the prompt, and received our first complete response back on earth – a haiku!,” Pichai added. This week, we reached our “Hello World” milestone: the first-ever AI response from a data center class TPU in orbit.
For those unaware, Google’s Project Suncatcher is a research project that aims to build AI data centres in space using networks of solar-powered satellites equipped with Google’s custom Tensor Processing Units (TPUs). The idea is to use the Sun’s energy to power AI computing in orbit, potentially reducing the need for land and electricity resources on Earth. The launch marked the first step in our long-term research moonshot to explore powering AI compute in space.
Since then, we’ve spent the last few weeks completing our commissioning checklist, which included powering up the host and TPU trays and successfully running early machine learning tests.
“The initial goal was to see if our chips could turn on, process a prompt, and transmit a response back to Earth,” the company said in an X post. In early October, Google sent four TPUs into orbit to test whether AI hardware could operate in space. This week, the company prompted its TPUs to generate a haiku from space.