Google Runs AI Inference on Trillium TPU in Orbit for First Time

Google's Project Suncatcher prototype, launched October 1 aboard a SpaceX rideshare, successfully ran AI inference in orbit. The team sent a prompt from Earth, booted a Trillium TPU aboard the satellite, ran inference using an onboard Gemma model, and received back a haiku. The returned haiku read: "Blue marble below / Data streams in silent grace / Starlight feeds my core." Google described the result as a "hello world" milestone for Project Suncatcher. The satellite carries four Trillium TPUs, with only one able to operate at a time for about 20 minutes on up to 1 kW of power, and the current capability is far from a full data center in orbit. The 2027 follow-on involves a partnership with Planet to launch two prototype satellites that will test free-space optical (laser) links between TPU-equipped satellites. Before launch, radiation testing found Trillium TPUs show no hard failures up to 15 krad(Si), with High Bandwidth Memory subsystems showing irregularities only at nearly three times the expected five-year shielded mission dose.