Why in News?
Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced Project Suncatcher, a long-term moonshot initiative to explore the feasibility of solar-powered data centres in space, with prototype satellites planned by 2027.
Description:
| Aspect | Details |
| Associated With | Google LLC (Initiative announced by CEO Sundar Pichai) |
| Primary Aim | Sustainability & Scalability: To process massive AI workloads in space by using continuous solar power and avoiding the energy, water, and land constraints of terrestrial data centers. |
| Nature of Project | Research Moonshot: A long-term, high-risk, high-reward initiative to explore building scalable AI compute systems in space (Space-Based Data Centers). |
| Core Components | 1. Solar-Powered Satellites: Planned constellation, likely in a dawn-dusk Sun-Synchronous Low Earth Orbit (LEO) for near-continuous solar exposure. 2. AI Hardware: Satellites equipped with Google’s custom-designed AI accelerators, the Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) (specifically the Trillium v6e generation). 3. Communication: Satellites linked using Free-Space Optical (FSO) Links (laser beams) for high-speed, low-latency inter-satellite and space-to-Earth data transfer (aiming for tens of Terabits per second). |
| Environmental Advantage | Solar panels in LEO can be up to 8 times more productive than on Earth due to less atmospheric attenuation and near-constant sunlight. |
| Development Status | Planning to launch two prototype satellites by early 2027 in partnership with Planet Labs to test hardware durability and communications in space. |
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