Google's Project Suncatcher prototype satellite launches into orbit with Planet

Google's prototype satellite for Project Suncatcher, built with Planet, launched into orbit on the Transporter-18 rideshare mission with SpaceX. The team confirmed contact and says the satellite is operating as expected.

Over the coming weeks, it will gather in-orbit data on how Google's TPUs handle spaceflight stress, radiation, and thermal extremes, and a peer-reviewed paper detailing the research is available in Joule.