A critical, and often overlooked, component of Google’s space datacentre plan is how the data gets back to Earth. The “Project Suncatcher” initiative relies on “free-space optical links,” a high-tech system that uses light or laser beams to transmit information wirelessly.
These optical links are essential for two reasons. First, they will connect the 80 satellites in each constellation, allowing the distributed processors (TPUs) to work in unison as a single, cohesive AI computer. This creates a powerful, interconnected network in orbit.
Second, these laser links will “beam their results back” to ground stations on Earth. This technology is necessary to move the massive amounts of data generated by AI models, offering a high-bandwidth alternative to traditional radio-frequency (RF) communications, which can be a bottleneck.
Google’s research explicitly states that these links are part of the core vision, connecting the solar-powered satellites and their Google TPUs. This highlights a “significant engineering challenge” that Google itself noted: “high-bandwidth ground communications.” The company must perfect this laser-based system to make it reliable from a moving constellation 400 miles up.
While the 2027 prototypes will test the AI chips and solar panels, they will also be a crucial test for this optical communication backbone. Without reliable, high-speed data transmission, the orbital datacentres would be useless.