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SpaceX Launches 130 Payloads, Including Google AI Chips, in Transporter-18 Mission
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CNBC TV18•02-10-2026, 01:31
SpaceX Launches 130 Payloads, Including Google AI Chips, in Transporter-18 Mission
- •SpaceX successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket with 130 payloads into low-Earth orbit as part of the Transporter-18 smallsat rideshare mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base.
- •Among the payloads was Google’s Project Suncatcher, a prototype satellite testing the performance of Google’s Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), its AI chips, in space for AI and machine learning workloads.
- •Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced Project Suncatcher on X, highlighting the partnership with Planet to explore space as a potential host for scalable AI computing infrastructure.
- •The mission aims to test hardware performance in orbit, with findings guiding future improvements, and Google is also exploring linking multiple satellite constellations for larger AI workloads.
- •The Falcon 9's first-stage booster completed its 25th flight, and the Transporter-18 mission also included other commercial and government payloads, marking SpaceX's second launch of the day.
Key Questions Answered
SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 130 payloads, which included Google's Project Suncatcher prototype satellite, cubesats, microsats, hosted payloads, two spacecraft with reentry vehicles, and four orbital transfer vehicles.
Project Suncatcher is a long-term research project designed to test how Google's Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) perform in space and whether low-Earth orbit can eventually host scalable AI computing infrastructure powered by constant sunlight.
The mission utilized a Falcon 9 first-stage booster that successfully completed its 25th flight, having previously supported missions such as USSF-62, NROL-145, OneWeb Launch 20, and 21 Starlink missions.
