Google's TPU in Space Writes Its First AI Haiku

Google's Project Suncatcher prototype satellite is now in orbit, carrying four TPU chips that can generate up to 1 kilowatt of power. The goal is to build a future satellite network for large-scale AI inference workloads in space.

On October 30, Google announced a "Hello World" milestone: a data center-grade TPU in orbit gave its first AI response. Engineers sent a prompt to the Gemma model on board, asking it to write a haiku about being in space, and the model answered smoothly.

Due to heat and power limits, the TPU runs only about 20 minutes at a time. The test focuses on chip stability and error correction in microgravity, extreme temperature swings, and space radiation. Engineers also tested limerick writing and data transmission tasks.