Overview
- Google detailed the concept in a preprint and blog, outlining compact constellations of TPU‑equipped satellites linked by free‑space optics.
- Bench testing demonstrated 800 Gbps each‑way throughput from a single optical transceiver pair as an early step toward multi‑terabit inter‑satellite links.
- Orbital‑dynamics models suggest clusters about 1 km across with neighbors roughly 100–200 meters apart could be maintained with modest station‑keeping.
- Radiation experiments on Trillium (v6e) TPUs showed HBM sensitivity around 2 krad(Si) and no hard total‑dose failures up to 15 krad(Si) on a tested chip.
- A Planet‑partnered learning mission plans two prototype satellites by early 2027 to test TPU operation in space and validate optical links for distributed ML.