Overview
- Starcloud confirmed it trained and is running a variant of Google’s Gemma on its Starcloud-1 satellite using an Nvidia H100 GPU, marking a first for in‑orbit LLM operations.
- Aetherflux announced a first low‑Earth‑orbit ‘Galactic Brain’ compute node targeted for Q1 2027 and a 2026 laser power‑beaming demo, backed by prior venture funding and a U.S. DoD proof‑of‑concept award.
- Google’s Project Suncatcher plans two prototype satellites by early 2027 to test TPU‑equipped, solar‑powered compute in partnership with Planet Labs.
- Reported efforts by SpaceX and Blue Origin include upgraded Starlink satellites to host AI payloads and Blue Origin’s year‑plus work on orbital compute technology, according to the Wall Street Journal and Reuters; neither company has publicly detailed timelines.
- Industry aims to ease grid, water and siting pressures by tapping continuous solar power in orbit, but scaling faces launch cadence, radiation tolerance, in‑orbit maintenance, debris risk and regulatory questions.