One of the strongest arguments behind Google’s Project Suncatcher is energy.
Artificial intelligence requires enormous computing resources, and those resources require electricity.
Google is investigating whether satellites could take advantage of the Sun to power AI processors in orbit.
According to Google, satellites operating in low Earth orbit can have access to near-constant sunlight and potentially generate substantially more solar energy than comparable installations on Earth.
That creates an intriguing possibility. Instead of building increasingly large power systems on the ground, future AI infrastructure could potentially generate electricity directly from solar arrays in space.
However, generating electricity is only one part of the problem. That energy has to be converted into computing power, heat must be removed, data must be transferred and the spacecraft must remain operational.
Google’s first Suncatcher satellite is designed to investigate some of these issues.
The company ultimately envisions networks of solar-powered satellites containing AI processors.
The October test will not prove that such a system is economically practical. But it could provide engineers with important data about how solar power, AI computing and thermal systems behave together in orbit.
Source: Google Research
आपके लिए सुझाव
