Google sends TPU into space, AI composes a poem from orbit.

Breaking news from Dongcha Beating AI: Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced that the prototype satellite of Project Suncatcher, launched in early October, has completed its first AI inference in space using data center-grade TPUs, with results transmitted back to Earth. Engineers sent a ground prompt instructing the satellite’s TPU to run Gemma 4 to compose a space-themed haiku. As the satellite passed over near Svalbard, Norway, it sent back the three-line poem: *Blue marble below* *Data streams in silent grace* *Starlight feeds my core.* [Translation: "Blue planet beneath, data streams flow silently, starlight nourishes my core."] The satellite carries four TPUs, but power constraints limit operation to one TPU at a time, with each session lasting around 20 minutes. While space is frigid, there is no air to cool chips, so heat pipes and radiators are used to dissipate heat outward. The impact of cosmic radiation on chip performance also requires further testing. Notably, AI has already operated in space before: last December, U.S. space computing startup Starcloud ran Gemma on orbit using NVIDIA H100, and even trained a small language model. Google’s latest test uses its own TPUs; upcoming challenges include ensuring long-term stable chip operation and enabling collaborative computing across multiple satellites.