Google’s Suncatcher satellite completed its first artificial intelligence inference task in orbit on or around October 30, 2026, then sent a haiku about its space environment back to Earth. Google DeepMind’s Gemma 4 model ran on a Google TPU powered by approximately 1 kW of solar energy. Launched on October 1, 2026, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 Transporter-18 rideshare mission, the prototype underwent several weeks of commissioning before achieving the first successful validation of a data-center-class TPU after launch. Operating sessions remain limited to 15 to 20 minutes because of thermal constraints, while Google plans to deploy two interconnected satellites in 2027 to test larger workloads and laser communication links.
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