Google thinks SpaceX’s Starship has to launch 1,600 times before space data centers get off the ground

Google launched a prototype orbital compute satellite on a SpaceX rocket to test its Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) in space. The satellite, built on a Planet Labs platform, demonstrated the TPU’s ability to operate with 1 kW of power, cooling, and 15-minute burst processing. It will run models to validate performance before a 2025 demo of two purpose-built compute satellites that will link via laser communications. Google’s white paper projects that Starship would need to fly 1,800 launches over ten years—about 180 per year—to deliver 370,000 t of payload and bring launch costs near $200 kg by 2035.