Planet bets on orbital data centers in partnership with Google
Planet, a company best known for providing geospatial intelligence through its constellation of imaging satellites, sees a significant opportunity in developing orbital data centers for artificial intelligence.
Planet announced last month a partnership with Google on what the companies call Project Suncatcher, an effort to demonstrate the ability of AI data centers to operate in orbit. The first phase of the project involves launching two Planet spacecraft equipped with Google's tensor processing units, or TPUs, computer chips optimized for AI applications.
The two spacecraft, slated to launch by early 2027, will test TPU performance in the space environment and demonstrate high-bandwidth intersatellite links between the satellites.
In an earnings call earlier this month, Planet Chief Executive Will Marshall described the agreement with Google as a "competitive win," citing the company's experience launching more than 600 satellites to date, most of them Dove and SuperDove cubesat-class spacecraft.
"There are only a couple of companies in the world that have done scaled constellations," he said, citing SpaceX and Planet. That experience, he added, "really is an incredible advantage we have."
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Suncatcher will leverage work Planet is doing on Owl, a new line of imaging satellites designed to replace the SuperDoves for daily imaging, with both programs using the same satellite bus. The Suncatcher spacecraft will include modifications such as expanded solar panels, Marshall said.
"There are two big reasons we did this project at the tactical level," he said. "One was how aligned it was to our Owl project. The second is that there's an option on a big program in the future."
Marshall emphasized that Suncatcher remains in the research and development phase, with only the two demonstration satellites planned for 2027 so far.
"That would test out some of the critical components, like shedding heat from the TPUs into outer space and doing the formation flying," he said, supporting a "cluster system approach" developed by Google and Planet.
In a Nov. 4 blog post, Google outlined its concept for a scaled-up orbital data center network. The concept envisions clusters of satellites in dawn-dusk sun-synchronous orbits, providing nearly continuous solar power. Google described one example involving a cluster of 81 satellites operating about 100 to 200 meters apart, enabling high-bandwidth intersatellite links.
Marshall said the long-term opportunity could extend well beyond an 81-satellite cluster. "It would require thousands of satellites," he said. "I see a huge market opportunity here. I do in the long run. This is just R&D at this phase."
Google and Planet are among a growing number of companies expressing interest in orbital data centers amid rising demand for AI computing power and constraints on terrestrial data center energy supplies. In theory, satellites could provide data centers with near-continuous solar power, but challenges remain, including heat dissipation and protecting processors from the heightened radiation environment in low Earth orbit.
Elon Musk, chief executive of SpaceX, has said the company plans to pursue orbital data centers, a factor in its consideration of a potential initial public offering as early as 2026. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and Blue Origin, said at the Italian Tech Week conference in October that orbital data centers could be cheaper than terrestrial facilities "in the next couple of decades."
Startups are also entering the field. Starcloud launched its first satellite on a SpaceX rideshare mission in November to test running AI models on a Nvidia processor in orbit. Aetherflux, a company developing space-based solar power systems, announced earlier this month plans to deploy orbital data center nodes it calls "Galactic Brain," with initial launches targeted for 2027.
"There's no doubt to me that, a decade or so away, we'll be viewing it as a more normal way to build data centers," Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said of orbital data centers in a television interview earlier this month.
Marshall expressed a similar view during the earnings call. "I do think it's a very viable project long term," he said. "As space infrastructure costs come down, it eventually makes more sense to put compute into space and other energy-intensive infrastructure."
Suncatcher, he added, aligns with Planet's positioning as a "space and AI company," given its imaging constellation and growing use of AI to analyze data, including the use of Nvidia chips on some newer spacecraft for onboard processing.
"There's a point at which it becomes more economically feasible to put entire data centers in space," Marshall said. "It's the position of Google and Planet that we are just a few years away from that, and therefore it's the right time to start investing in the R&D."
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