---
type: entity
entity_type: research_program
name: Google Project Suncatcher
parent_org: Google
domain: space-development
status: active
founded: 2025
supports:
- Planet Labs' partnership with Google on Project Suncatcher as an ODC manufacturing and operations partner demonstrates that LEO satellite operational expertise transfers from Earth observation to orbital compute with minimal architectural change
reweave_edges:
- Planet Labs' partnership with Google on Project Suncatcher as an ODC manufacturing and operations partner demonstrates that LEO satellite operational expertise transfers from Earth observation to orbital compute with minimal architectural change|supports|2026-04-17
---

# Google Project Suncatcher

**Type:** Research program  
**Parent Organization:** Google  
**Status:** Active (announced November 2025)  
**Domain:** Orbital data centers, space-based AI compute

## Overview

Project Suncatcher is Google's research moonshot exploring solar-powered satellite constellations equipped with Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) for machine learning compute in space. The project represents Google's long-term bet on orbital data centers as a viable compute architecture.

## Technical Architecture

- **Orbit:** Dawn-dusk sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) for near-constant sunlight exposure
- **Compute:** Google TPUs (4 per satellite in 2027 test)
- **Connectivity:** High-bandwidth free-space optical inter-satellite links
- **Cluster design:** 81 satellites operating 100-200 meters apart in 1km arrays
- **Power:** Solar power collection integrated with compute and thermal management
- **Long-term vision:** Gigawatt-scale constellations

## Partnership

- **Manufacturing/Operations Partner:** Planet Labs
- Planet provides satellite manufacturing and operations expertise
- Leverages Planet's experience with large LEO constellations (Dove, SkySat)

## Economic Model

- **Launch cost threshold:** $200/kg identified as enabling cost for gigawatt-scale deployment (mid-2030s)
- **Current tier:** Proof-of-concept using Falcon 9 economics (~$1,500-3,000/kg)
- **Constellation tier:** Requires Starship-class economics (~$200/kg)
- Approximately 10x cost reduction needed between proof-of-concept and constellation scale

## Timeline

- **2025-11:** Project announced
- **Early 2027:** Two test satellites launching, each with 4 TPUs
- **Mid-2030s:** Target timeline for constellation-scale deployment (per Sundar Pichai's "decade away" framing)

## Strategic Framing

Sundar Pichai (Google CEO) positioned Project Suncatcher as a long-range research initiative, not near-term commercial deployment: "A decade away from a new normal of extraterrestrial data centers" (Fortune, December 2025).

## Sources

- Data Center Dynamics, November 2025
- Google Research Blog
- SpaceNews (Planet Labs partnership)
- Fortune (Sundar Pichai interview, December 2025)
- Singularity Hub, Medium, InfoQ, Semafor coverage

## Timeline

- **2025-11** — Project Suncatcher announced; partnership with Planet Labs confirmed
- **Early 2027** — Planned launch of two test satellites, each equipped with 4 Google TPUs