The Wall Street Journal indicates that Google is engaging in talks with SpaceX to gain support for its emerging initiative to deploy data centers in orbit. Should an agreement materialize, it would unite two industry rivals in a joint venture.
Google's bold Project Suncatcher, focused on evaluating the practicality of orbital computing infrastructure, launched ahead of SpaceX's comparable venture. Details of the project emerged from Google in the prior November, compared to Elon Musk's February disclosure of combining SpaceX with xAI to send one million data-processing satellites into space. The report mentions Google negotiating with various other launch providers as well. Currently, the internet powerhouse collaborates with Planet Labs on creating and assembling the satellites destined for orbit.
Executives from Google and SpaceX, such as CEO Sundar Pichai and Elon Musk, regard space-hosted data centers as an unavoidable development. In a November Fox News discussion, Pichai remarked, 'There's no doubt to me that a decade or so away, we'll be viewing it as a more normal way to build data centers.' Musk, addressing the SpaceX-xAI combination, asserted that satellites would offer the most economical AI processing capacity in just three years.
Nevertheless, professionals interviewed by Engadget back in February cast skepticism on executing widespread AI tasks in space environments. Graphics processing units aboard satellites would endure persistent cosmic ray exposure, hindering reliable computation performance, while thermal management in the near-vacuum conditions—limited to gradual heat emission—poses significant hurdles. Additionally, mass-launching satellites into low Earth orbit could inflict substantial harm on the global atmosphere and jeopardize secure orbital access for other firms and authorities.