Google contemplates putting giant AI installations in low-earth orbit

Putting AI in space may sound like a sci-fi nightmare, but Google is thinking about the idea with a research endeavor called Project Suncatcher. The idea is to put power-hungry data centers into orbit on solar-powered satellites, so they can be powered by unlimited, clean energy available 24 hours a day. That would mitigate the nastiest aspects of AI cloud computing, like the use of power plants that spew huge amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere.

Project Suncatcher is a literal moonshot of the type that Google used to do more often. The search giant wants to put its AI chips, called Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), into orbit aboard solar panel-equipped satellites. “In the future, space may be the best place to scale AI compute,” wrote Google senior director Travis Beals. "In the right orbit, a solar panel can be up to 8 times more productive than on Earth ...