Reached orbit and made contact. Google says it will measure how its chips stand up to launch, radiation and heat; it reports no AI workload.
| Operator | Google, with Planet |
|---|---|
| Developer | |
| Host | A prototype satellite built with Planet |
| Where | Earth orbit |
| Class | compute |
| Hardware | Google TPUs; the number aboard is not given in Google's posts |
| Model or software | none reported |
| Launched | 1 Oct 2026 |
| Ran | no run reported |
“launched into orbit aboard the Transporter-18 rideshare mission with SpaceX. Our team has confirmed contact with the satellite and it is operating as expected”
Google: the operator. Our Project Suncatcher prototype satellite is in orbit., Google. Published 1 Oct 2026 (page metadata). Read 4 Oct 2026, in full.
“Over the coming weeks, we'll gather in-orbit data on how our TPUs handle the physical stress of spaceflight and the radiation and thermal extremes of space.”
Google: the operator. Our Project Suncatcher prototype satellite is in orbit., Google. Published 1 Oct 2026 (page metadata). Read 4 Oct 2026, in full.
“a pathfinder spacecraft for Project Suncatcher”
Space.com: a news report. SpaceX launches Google AI satellite, 129 other payloads on 2nd leg of spaceflight tripleheader, Space.com. Published 1 Oct 2026 (page metadata). Read 4 Oct 2026, in full.
News reports give four TPUs; that figure was seen only in search snippets. Google's paper in Joule could not be opened. No catalogue object was found under the name tried.