Science & Tech · Space · 5 hrs ago
Google runs Gemma 4 AI model on a satellite in orbit
Google has run its Gemma 4 AI model on a satellite in orbit for the first time.
The test is part of Project Suncatcher, an experiment exploring whether AI data centers could operate in space.
After sending a prompt from Earth, engineers received a short poem from the satellite, which also answered questions about its onboard systems.
The satellite was launched earlier in October and carries a Google processor called a TPU.
Google will now test whether the chips can keep working under space heat and radiation.
Radiation can disrupt computer memory, so the tests will show whether the processor can reliably handle AI tasks in orbit.
If the tests succeed, Google plans to launch two interconnected satellites in 2027.
Google has run its Gemma 4 AI model on a satellite in orbit and received a response to a prompt sent from Earth.
The model wrote a haiku about space, which the satellite transmitted back to Earth.
The test is an early milestone in Project Suncatcher, Google’s effort to explore AI data centers in orbit.
The prototype carries one Google Tensor Processing Unit and can generate up to 1 kW of electricity.
Google plans further tests of the chips under space heat and radiation conditions.
- Who
- Google, using its Gemma 4 model aboard a prototype satellite.
- What
- The satellite answered a prompt from Earth with a space-themed haiku.
- When
- The first prompt was sent this week, according to TechCrunch; the articles were published on October 30, 2026.
- Where
- In orbit, with the prompt sent from the ground and the response transmitted back to Earth.
- Why
- The test is part of Project Suncatcher, which explores the possibility of running AI data centers in space.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Google launched the prototype satellite, according to Notebookcheck.
After commissioning tests of the satellite’s subsystems, the spacecraft was ready to work, TechCrunch reported.
Engineers sent the satellite’s Gemma 4 model a prompt to write a haiku about space, and the satellite sent its response back to Earth.
Google plans to launch two more satellites if the current tests show the onboard TPU can operate reliably.
- Model
- Google DeepMind’s Gemma 4
- Onboard processor
- One Google Tensor Processing Unit (TPU)
- Electricity generation
- Up to 1 kW
- Satellite launch
- October 1, according to Notebookcheck
- Next milestone
- Two more satellites planned for 2027
3 sources
What people are saying
Blue marble below Data streams in silent grace Starlight feeds my core.