Google has conceived a possible novel strategy to address resource limitations for power-hungry AI data centers on Earth — deploying its AI chips into orbit on solar-powered satellites. This initiative is referred to as Project Suncatcher, a ‘moonshot’ research venture announced today by Google.
If successfully implemented, the project would effectively establish data centers in space. Google aims to exploit solar energy continuously by doing so. The goal is to leverage a nearly infinite supply of clean energy that might enable the firm to pursue its AI aspirations without the issues linked to its terrestrial data centers, such as increasing power plant emissions and higher utility bills due to rising electricity consumption.
“In the future, space could be the optimal environment for scaling AI computing,” Travis Beals, a senior director at Google for Paradigms of Intelligence, states in a blog post today. The organization also released a preprint paper, which has not been subjected to academic peer review, outlining its achievements up to this point on this project.
There are significant obstacles Google must surmount to bring this vision to fruition, which it details in the blog and paper. Google imagines its Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) orbiting the Earth on satellites equipped with solar panels capable of generating electricity almost non-stop, making them eight times more efficient than comparable panels on Earth, as per Google.
One major challenge will be ensuring effective communication between the satellites. Competing with ground-based data centers “necessitates links between satellites that can support tens of terabits per second,” according to Google. Aligning constellations of satellites in tight formations could assist in attaining that, possibly positioning satellites within “kilometers or less” of one another. That’s significantly closer than current satellite operations, and there’s already a growing risk from space debris caused by collisions, presenting increasing hazards.
Moreover, Google must ensure that its TPUs can endure heightened radiation levels in space. It has examined its Trillium TPUs for radiation resilience and asserts they “withstand a total ionizing dose equivalent to a 5-year mission life without permanent damage.”
Currently, launching those TPUs into space would incur significant costs. Nevertheless, a cost analysis conducted by the company indicates that initiating and operating a data center in space could become “approximately comparable” to the energy expenses of an equivalent facility on Earth on a per-kilowatt/year basis by the mid-2030s. Google plans a collaborative mission with the company Planet to deploy a couple of prototype satellites by 2027 to evaluate its hardware in orbit.
