Google is sending a teensy-tiny AI data center to space

Google will launch a 15-kilogram satellite, MVP, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 on October 1 to test four tensor-processing-unit chips that provide the compute power of a single data-center server. The satellite will use a one-kilowatt solar array, a proprietary 15-minute cooling system, and will answer simple AI queries for a year while orbiting Earth for six years before re-entry. The experiment follows ground tests at Crocker Nuclear Laboratory that exposed the chips to high-radiation levels to assess bit-flip resilience and restart procedures.