内容来源：https://www.theverge.com/news/813894/google-project-suncatcher-ai-datacenter-satellites

内容总结：

谷歌公司近日公布了一项名为"捕日者"的前沿研究计划，拟将人工智能数据中心部署至太空轨道。该项目旨在通过太阳能供电的卫星集群构建太空数据中心，以突破地球资源限制，为高能耗的AI运算提供近乎无限的清洁能源。

根据谷歌发布的技术论文，该方案计划让搭载张量处理单元（TPU）的卫星在近地轨道运行，利用太空中近乎持续的太阳能发电，其效率预计可达地面太阳能板的八倍。公司智能范式高级总监特拉维斯·比尔斯在博文中表示："未来太空可能成为扩展AI算力的最佳场所。"

目前该项目仍面临多重技术挑战：首先需建立每秒传输数十太比特的星间通信系统，这要求卫星在千米级近距离编队飞行；其次须确保芯片能承受太空辐射环境，据测试现有Trillium TPU已具备执行五年太空任务所需的抗辐射能力。此外，太空垃圾碰撞风险也不容忽视。

尽管当前发射成本高昂，但谷歌测算显示，到本世纪30年代中期，太空数据中心的单位能耗成本有望与地面设施持平。公司计划在2027年与行星实验室合作发射首批原型卫星，开展轨道硬件测试。这项太空基建计划若获成功，或将缓解AI发展对地面电网造成的排放压力与用电成本问题。

中文翻译：

谷歌为应对地球AI数据中心能耗困境提出全新构想——将AI芯片搭载在太阳能卫星上送入太空。今日公布的"逐日计划"研究项目，被该公司称为"登月级"创新。

这家科技巨头正探索如何将太阳能卫星群转化为数据中心。若计划得以实施，该项目将建成首批太空数据中心。谷歌期望借此实现全天候太阳能利用，近乎无限的清洁能源或将助其摆脱在地球发展AI的桎梏——目前地面数据中心因电力需求激增，已引发电厂排放量与公共事业费用攀升的担忧。

"未来太空可能成为扩展AI算力的最佳场所，"谷歌智能范式高级总监特拉维斯·比尔斯在今日博客中写道。该公司同步发布了未经学术同行评审的预印本论文，详述现阶段研究进展。

要实现该计划，谷歌需攻克诸多重大技术难关。根据构想，搭载张量处理单元的卫星将配备太阳能板环绕地球运行，其发电效率可达地面同类设备的八倍。核心挑战在于确保卫星间高速通信——"要与地面数据中心竞争，需实现每秒数十太比特的星间链路"。通过将卫星编队间距控制在"千米乃至更短"范围可达成此目标，但这远低于现行卫星运行间距，且太空碎片碰撞风险正持续加剧。

此外，谷歌还需确保处理器能承受太空强辐射。经测试，其Trillium芯片在相当于五年太空任务总辐射量的环境中"未出现永久性故障"。目前太空部署成本仍居高不下，但该公司分析指出，到2030年代中期，太空数据中心的每千瓦年能耗成本有望与地面设施"大致持平"。谷歌计划与行星公司合作，在2027年前发射数颗原型卫星进行轨道硬件测试。

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英文来源：

Google has dreamed up a potential new way to get around resource constraints for energy-hungry AI data centers on Earth — launching its AI chips into space on solar-powered satellites. It’s a ‘moonshot’ research project Google announced today called Project Suncatcher.
Google has a ‘moonshot’ plan for AI data centers in space
It’s trying to figure out how to turn constellations of solar-powered satellites into data centers.
It’s trying to figure out how to turn constellations of solar-powered satellites into data centers.
If it can ever get off the ground, the project would essentially create space-based data centers. Google hopes that by doing so, it can harness solar power around-the-clock. The dream is harnessing a near-unlimited source of clean energy that might allow the company to chase its AI ambitions without the concerns its data centers on Earth have raised when it comes to driving up power plant emissions and utility bills through soaring electricity demand.
“In the future, space may be the best place to scale AI compute,” Travis Beals, a Google senior director for Paradigms of Intelligence, writes in a blog post today. The company also published a preprint paper, which has not undergone academic peer review, detailing its progress so far on this endeavor.
“In the future, space may be the best place to scale AI compute.”
There are major hurdles Google would need to overcome to turn this plan into reality, which it explains in the blog and paper. Google envisions its Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) orbiting Earth on satellites outfitted with solar panels that could generate electricity almost continuously, making them eight times more productive than similar panels on Earth, according to Google.
A major challenge will be to ensure that the satellites can communicate well with each other. Competing with data centers on land “requires links between satellites that support tens of terabits per second,” Google writes. Maneuvering constellations of satellites into tight formations can help them achieve that, perhaps flying satellites within “kilometers or less” of each other. That’s much closer than satellites operate today, and already space junk from collisions is a growing risk.
On top of that, Google has to ensure that its TPUs can withstand higher levels of radiation in space. It has tested its Trillium TPUs for radiation tolerance and says they “survive a total ionizing dose equivalent to a 5 year mission life without permanent failures.”
It would be pretty pricey to send those TPUs into space at the moment. But a cost analysis the company performed suggests that launching and running a data center in space could become “roughly comparable” to the energy costs of an equivalent data center on Earth on a per-kilowatt/year basis by the mid-2030s. Google says it’s planning a joint mission with the company Planet to launch a couple prototype satellites by 2027 in order to test its hardware in orbit.
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