Google to Launch Project Suncatcher AI Satellite Aboard SpaceX Mission on October 1

Google is set to launch its first experimental satellite, MVP, on October 1 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 Transporter-18 rideshare mission from California. The initiative, developed in partnership with Planet Labs under Project Suncatcher, tests running AI workloads in orbit to bypass terrestrial energy constraints. Powered by a one-kilowatt solar array, the refrigerator-sized craft carries four custom Tensor Processing Units to run Gemini AI models in 15-minute bursts. Google moved the launch timeline forward from an initial 2027 target and plans follow-up launches in 2027 to test high-bandwidth optical inter-satellite links.