SpaceX was set to launch Google's tensor processing units into orbit Thursday on its Transporter-18 mission, with CNBC reporting that the flight would mark the first in-orbit test of Alphabet's Project Suncatcher. According to CNBC's report, the launch was scheduled for 11:15 a.m. PT from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County, California.
CNBC reported that during the uncrewed Transporter-18 mission, SpaceX would carry Planet Labs satellites, including a solar-powered prototype equipped with Google's tensor processing units. The outlet said the flight would mark the first in-orbit test of Alphabet's Project Suncatcher.
Alphabet said in a post announcing the plan that Project Suncatcher is meant to explore whether space could one day host scalable machine learning infrastructure. The company also said satellites in low Earth orbit can access near-constant sunlight and generate up to eight times more solar power than on Earth.
A small test inside a bigger space-computing push
The launch plan fit into a broader push to see whether some computing infrastructure could eventually move off Earth. CNBC also reported that SpaceX has announced plans to build and launch its own orbital data centers.
That still leaves Project Suncatcher in the experimental stage. Based on the supplied evidence, the clearest supported takeaway is narrow: CNBC reported that Transporter-18 was set to carry Google's TPUs into orbit and that Alphabet has framed the project as an exploration of whether scalable machine learning infrastructure could one day work in space.
