Google has launched the first data center with an AI model into orbit

Google has successfully launched a satellite equipped with data center hardware into Earth's orbit. The spacecraft carries the first-ever space-based TPU processor.

In the conditions of outer space, the onboard chip is performing inference for the open language model Google DeepMind Gemma 4. As part of a test of the onboard computing system, the model has already generated its first poems.

Launching a space-based TPU allows for testing the performance of heavy neural network architectures in the extreme conditions of orbit. In practice, this opens up possibilities for autonomous processing of satellite data without the need to transmit large volumes of information back to Earth.