Google is building data centers in space — why and how it works

Google CEO Sundar Pichai explained the idea publicly. According to him, one of the company's main goals is to eventually place data centers in space to harness solar energy. The Sun provides 100 trillion times more energy than all the electricity humanity currently produces on Earth.

Why space?

Data centers already consume more than 4% of all electricity in the United States. By 2028, this figure could rise to 12%. The power grids simply cannot keep up with the growing demand.

Google itself has doubled its electricity consumption through its data centers over the past five years—from 14.4 to 30.8 million megawatt-hours per year.

The situation is different in space. In orbit, solar panels operate eight times more efficiently than on Earth and receive light almost continuously—without night, clouds, or atmospheric losses.

How the project is structured

Google plans to launch approximately 81 satellites. They will form a cluster with a radius of about one kilometer, with neighboring satellites positioned 100–200 meters apart.

Together, they will form a single orbital computing cluster. Each satellite will be equipped with Google's proprietary TPU processors. Satellite manufacturing is handled by Planet Labs.

The satellites will fly in close formation and exchange data via optical communication links. The team has already built a demonstrator that achieved speeds of 800 gigabits per second in each direction through a single pair of transceivers.

The equipment was also tested for resistance to space radiation. The Trillium processor was tested under conditions simulating orbital radiation. Memory began to experience errors only at doses nearly three times higher than the projected five-year limit. No hard failures were recorded at maximum test doses.

The emergence of SpaceX

In May 2026, several major publications reported that Google and SpaceX were reportedly negotiating the launch of orbital data centers. If negotiations are indeed underway, SpaceX is not acting as a project partner but as a launch provider—simply delivering Google's satellites to orbit via rocket.

Meanwhile, Google is not limiting itself to SpaceX and is simultaneously negotiating with other rocket launch providers.

The negotiations coincide with a crucial moment for SpaceX—the company is preparing for an IPO with a valuation of $1.75 trillion. Elon Musk is actively promoting orbital data centers as a potentially cheaper alternative to ground-based facilities for AI computing tasks.

What's next?

Google plans to launch its first two prototype satellites in early 2027 in collaboration with Planet Labs. They will test how the equipment performs under real orbital conditions.

Pichai is confident in the outcome: he stated that in 10 years, building data centers in space will be seen as a standard practice.

If the test is successful, the next step will be a full-scale cluster of 81 satellites—the first true orbital data center in history.