Google's latest moon shot is literally leaving Earth: It's about to test an AI "data center" in orbit. On Thursday, a satellite dubbed MVP is slated to ride a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from California into space, where it will run Google's Gemini AI on four custom chips powered by solar panels that generate about as much juice as a hair dryer, reports the New York Times. The launch kicks off Project Suncatcher, Google's long-term bet that future data centers will hover above the planet, tapping constant sunlight and dodging some of the constraints of terrestrial facilities.
MVP, which is said to be about the size of a fridge, will answer simple queries for about a year while Google studies whether its chips can handle radiation, extreme temperatures, and cooling in a vacuum—fans don't work in space, so engineers built a layered heat-shedding system instead. Company leaders say they don't expect anything commercially useful for years, but Google is already planning additional satellites and, eventually, a fleet that functions as a massive orbital data center.
Engadget points out other potential roadblocks to a mass effort in this domain, citing everything from cosmic rays that could melt equipment to the exorbitant costs that could be involved in launching more satellites. One sector that may be excited about the prospect of data centers in space: insurance companies, which could find a new path for growth "if they can figure out how to price a risk that has never existed at scale," per CNBC.
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