Google's Suncatcher satellite runs Gemma 270mi n space—power limits mean only one TPU lit at a time
demian_ai · x · 2026-11-03
Google's Suncatcher prototype satellite, launched on a Falcon 9 last month, carries four TPUs and ran Gemma 4, even generating a haiku about being in space ("Starlight feeds my core"). The poem is apt: the satellite produces at most 1 kW, and a single TPU draws so much that only one can run at a time for 20-minute bursts—the first space data center hit the same wall as ground ones: power, not chips. Scaling needs bigger solar arrays and more launch mass; Google researchers' peer-reviewed paper estimates Starship would need 1,800 launches over ten years to near $200/kg by 2035, versus a max of five flights in any single year so far. Two more satellites with laser links follow in 2027.
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