{
  "id": 11404235,
  "title": "Google sends its 'chips' to space in a refrigerator-sized satellite",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/02/google-sends-its-chips-to-space-in-a-refrigerator-sized-satellite",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-02T08:06:53.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Times of India",
    "slug": "times-of-india",
    "url": "https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/google-sends-it-chips-to-space-in-a-refrigerator-sized-satellite-ceo-sundar-pichai-says-i-remember-the-first-meeting-where-/articleshow/134634889.cms"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Google has successfully launched its AI chips into space aboard a refrigerator-sized satellite built in partnership with Planet Labs. The satellite, part of Project Suncatcher, was carried by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket during the Transporter-18 rideshare mission. The TPUs, or Tensor Processing Units, will run Google's open-weight Gemma model in 15-minute bursts, limited by heat and power constraints. The mission aims to operate for a year, capitalizing on the more abundant solar energy available in low Earth orbit compared to Earth. Google envisions a future where clusters of satellites, each carrying dozens of TPUs, communicate through lasers, potentially replacing Earth-based data centers. However, radiation, heat, and cooling challenges pose significant hurdles for the TPUs' long-term survival in space. Google expects the launch price of TPUs in orbit to drop to around $200 per kilogram by 2035, but believes it will take longer than five years for orbiting data centers to become financially viable.",
  "summary": "Google has launched its AI chips into space for the first time under Project Suncatcher. A refrigerator-sized Planet Labs satellite carrying four Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) flew aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 to test whether AI data centres can run in orbit on solar power. The chips will run Google's Gemma AI model in 15-minute bursts, but the company says space-based data centres are at least five…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}