- Google plans to deploy AI knowledge facilities in orbit utilizing solar-powered satellite tv for pc constellations
- Every Suncatcher satellite tv for pc would function in a sun-synchronous low Earth orbit for steady photo voltaic publicity
- Bench assessments achieved 1.6 terabits per second between transceivers in managed situations
Google’s “Venture Suncatcher” introduces an bold concept: to position totally purposeful AI knowledge facilities in orbit.
These orbital platforms would encompass a constellation of compact satellites working in a daybreak–nightfall sun-synchronous low Earth orbit, designed to seize near-continuous daylight.
Each unit would house machine learning hardware, including TPUs, powered by solar energy collected more efficiently than on Earth.
A radical concept for orbital computing
The configuration aims to reduce dependency on heavy energy storage and to test whether computation beyond Earth’s atmosphere can be both scalable and sustainable.
The research team proposes inter-satellite communication at bandwidths comparable to ground-based data centers.
Utilizing multi-channel dense wavelength-division multiplexing and spatial multiplexing, the satellites may theoretically obtain tens of terabits per second.
To shut the sign energy hole, the satellites would fly inside simply a whole lot of meters of one another, enabling knowledge switch charges {that a} bench-scale check has already demonstrated at 1.6 Tbps.
Sustaining such shut formations, nevertheless, requires complicated orbital management, modeled utilizing Hill-Clohessy-Wiltshire equations and refined numerical simulations to counter gravitational and atmospheric results.
In keeping with Google, its Trillium Cloud TPU v6e underneath 67 MeV proton publicity revealed no vital harm even at doses far exceeding anticipated orbital ranges.
Essentially the most delicate elements, high-bandwidth reminiscence subsystems, confirmed solely minor irregularities.
This discovering counsel current TPU architectures may, with restricted modification, endure low-Earth orbit situations for prolonged missions.
Nonetheless, financial viability stays unsure, although projected reductions in launch prices might make deployment believable.
If costs fall under $200 per kilogram by the mid-2030s, the expense of launching and sustaining space-based knowledge facilities may strategy parity with terrestrial amenities when measured per kilowatt-year.
But this assumes long-term reliability and minimal servicing necessities, each of which stay untested at scale.
Regardless of the promising indicators, many points of Venture Suncatcher relaxation on theoretical modeling somewhat than subject validation.
The upcoming partnership with Planet, set to deploy two prototype satellites by 2027, will check optical interlinks and TPU efficiency underneath actual orbital situations.
Whether or not these orbiting amenities can transition from analysis experiment to operational infrastructure relies on sustained advances in power administration, communication stability, and value effectivity.
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