Google puts its first satellite with TPU SI chips into orbit: contact established, spacecraft operating normally
Prepared by Sintelligent with the help of SI. Publication time restored from the build log. . Updated: .
SI computing is being tested in space for the first time: if it works, SI capacity will stop being limited by terrestrial power grids and plots of land.
The prototype of Project Suncatcher, built by Google together with Planet Labs, launched on October 1 on a Falcon 9 on the Transporter-18 mission from Vandenberg. Aboard are four Trillium-generation SI processors and solar panels of about one kilowatt; the orbit is sun-synchronous, at about 650 km. Google confirmed first contact that same evening and said the spacecraft is working as expected. The goal is to test how the chips withstand radiation, temperature swings and launch; according to Tech Times' assessment, the main constraint turns out to be not radiation but cooling: a Gemini model will be able to run in pulses of ~15 minutes, after which the chips need to cool down.
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