AI sent into space by Google has sent a poem back to Earth. Responding to a request from the ground, a satellite orbiting Earth wrote the poem itself and transmitted the result.
By successfully operating an AI semiconductor in space, Google has moved closer to its concept of a space-based data center that connects satellites to perform large-scale computations.
Google announced in an official blog post on October 30, local time, that it had run an AI model on a Project Suncatcher experimental satellite and received its first response.
Travis Beals, Google's senior director of AI research, explained: “We have reached the ‘hello world’ stage of receiving the first AI response from a data-center-class TPU in orbit.”
In the first experiment, researchers sent a command asking for a short poem about space. Gemma 4, the AI model aboard the satellite, wrote a three-line poem: “A blue marble beneath my feet, waves of data flow quietly, and starlight energizes my core.”
The wording describes Earth as a blue marble and connects data with starlight. The completed poem was transmitted to the ground as the satellite passed over Svalbard, Norway.
Google launched the experimental satellite on October 1 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Jointly built with Planet Labs, the satellite carries 4 TPU AI chips developed by Google. After checking the power supply, communications and chip operating status for about 3 weeks after launch, researchers ran an actual AI model.
After receiving the first response, Google also conducted experiments asking the model to write other types of poetry and describe the satellite's technical status. The experiments demonstrated the potential to perform AI computations in space that had previously been carried out in terrestrial data centers.
Solar power is central to building space-based data centers. Google is focusing on the prospect of obtaining more solar energy in Earth orbit than on the ground. Its concept is to establish computing resources in space for large-scale AI computations by connecting multiple satellites through a high-speed optical communications network.
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Many challenges remain. The experimental satellite can generate a maximum of 1 kW of power. Although it carries 4 TPUs, it can operate only one at a time for about 20 minutes. Heat generated by the semiconductors in a vacuum must be managed, and the effects of space radiation on memory and computation results must also be verified.
Google plans to launch 2 additional TPU-equipped satellites in 2027 to conduct intersatellite optical communications and computing experiments. Its long-term goal is to build a space-based data center that operates multiple satellites as a single AI computing system.
Original Korean article: ZDNet Korea
English brief by Korea Wind Intelligence, koreawindintel.com
