Google Project Suncatcher Plans 2027 Orbital TPU Test With Planet

Google and San Francisco-based Earth imaging company Planet Labs announced Friday, Oct. 30 that they will launch 2 prototype satellites carrying Google's Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) by early 2027 under an engineering research initiative called Project Suncatcher (SpaceNews).

Detailed by Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai and Google senior director for paradigms of intelligence Travis Beals, Project Suncatcher evaluates how compact constellations of solar-powered satellites in a dawn-dusk sun-synchronous low-Earth orbit can receive nearly continuous sunlight—generating up to eight times more solar energy per panel than terrestrial installations without requiring heavy battery banks. In radiation testing of Google's sixth-generation Trillium TPU using a 67-megaelectronvolt proton beam, researchers found that high-bandwidth memory subcomponents began showing irregularities only after absorbing roughly three times the expected five-year orbital dose of 750 rads.

Under the architecture outlined by Google, satellites positioned less than a kilometer apart—potentially 100 to 200 meters in a future 81-satellite cluster—can exchange data across free-space optical links demonstrated at 800 gigabits per second (800 Gbps) per transceiver pair in laboratory tests. Google estimated that orbital compute could become cost-competitive with ground-based data centers by the mid-2030s if launch prices fall below $200 per kilogram.

Tesla Files IPO Prospectus for Optimus and Cybercab Maintenance Spin-Off

In terrestrial robotics, Tesla filed an initial public offering prospectus on Friday to spin off a standalone public company dedicated to cleaning, charging, repairing, and maintaining its upcoming Optimus humanoid robots and autonomous Cybercab vehicles (TechCrunch). CEO Elon Musk has projected that Optimus units will sell for between $20,000 and $30,000, begin commercial sales by the end of 2027, and eventually represent 80% of Tesla's enterprise value. Under the prospectus, current Tesla shareholders will receive priority access to shares in the maintenance entity, which plans to recruit hundreds of independent service contractors.

OpenAI's Stargate Shift, Perplexity Licensing, and GM's $220M Data Settlement

Elsewhere across the AI and connected-systems landscape on Friday:

• OpenAI's Infrastructure Pivot: On TechCrunch's Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Rebecca Bellan examined why OpenAI has stepped back from building dedicated facilities under its $500 billion ($500B) Stargate venture with SoftBank and Oracle in favor of leasing cloud capacity, including a $38 billion ($38B) multi-year compute agreement with Amazon Web Services (TechCrunch).
• Perplexity's Enterprise Publisher Licensing: Search startup Perplexity continued expanding revenue-sharing agreements with news publishers as it shifts product focus toward enterprise knowledge tools while defending ongoing copyright litigation from major media outlets.
• General Motors' $220 Million Telematics Settlement: General Motors agreed to pay $220 million ($220M)—comprising $145 million to resolve a 47-state and District of Columbia attorneys general investigation and $75 million to settle a consolidated federal class action—over allegations that its OnStar Smart Driver feature collected and sold driving behavior data from 16 million motorists to data brokers LexisNexis and Verisk without clear informed consent, following an earlier five-year Federal Trade Commission consent order in January (Hoodline).