Google plans to send its AI chips into low Earth orbit on October 1 as part of Project Suncatcher, a research mission testing whether powerful AI hardware can operate in space.

A prototype satellite carrying Google’s Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) will ride on SpaceX’s Transporter-18 rideshare launch from California. Planet Labs is partnering with Google on the spacecraft effort, according to reports.

The mission will test how the chips handle launch stress, radiation and extreme temperatures. Cosmic rays and solar activity can disrupt electronics and create errors known as bit flips. Google already tested its Trillium TPUs using proton beams at UC Davis, running AI workloads while researchers tracked radiation-related errors.

Rocket launches can expose components to forces of 50 to 100 times gravity, so engineers ran vibration tests across all three satellite axes before flight, and the hardware held up.

Cooling is the biggest hurdle. With no air in space, fans cannot move heat, so Google will use heat pipes and radiators — a setup already tested in thermal vacuum chambers. The project explores whether orbit could one day host large-scale AI computing and ease the load on ground data centers.