Google is preparing to launch a satellite carrying its AI chips into orbit, part of an early test of whether space could someday host AI data centers.
\n\nThe New York Times reports that Google’s launch is part of “Project Suncatcher,” the company’s experimental effort to explore putting AI infrastructure in orbit. The satellite is fitted with Google’s Tensor Processing Units and is scheduled to launch October 1 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. It will circle Earth in low orbit, drawing power from the sun.
\n\nGoogle says the point of the flight is to see how the chips hold up, and whether the hardware can, in the company’s words, “handle the physical stress of spaceflight and the radiation and thermal extremes of space.” As Google put it, “some things can only be tested in space.”
\n\nGround testing has already turned up encouraging signs: Google found its TPUs can tolerate substantial g-forces and radiation exposure. Heat is a tougher problem. It’s harder to simulate on the ground, and it may be the biggest hurdle for the whole project. With this launch, Google will also try out a cooling system built around heat pipes and radiators, run while the chips are actually…
Original source: https://www.breitbart.com/economy/
