Google’s “Project Suncatcher” may be a “moonshot” for AI, but for astronomers, it’s a potential kill-shot. The plan for “compact constellations” of satellites is part of a “rising number” of objects that scientists decry as “like bugs on a windshield,” threatening the future of ground-based astronomy.
These AI datacenters, orbiting 400 miles up, will reflect sunlight and create bright streaks that “contaminate” scientific observations. This light pollution, combined with the thousands of satellites already launched by companies like Starlink, could make it impossible to study faint, distant objects from Earth.
This creates a painful paradox. The AI that Google is trying to power is often used by astronomers to analyze data and explore the universe. Now, the very infrastructure being built to “scale AI” is threatening the data-gathering abilities of the scientists who use it.
Google is framing its plan as an environmental win, “minimising impact on terrestrial resources.” But it ignores the “environmental” impact on the sky, a shared resource for science and humanity.
This conflict, combined with the “hundreds of tonnes of CO2” from rocket launches, puts Google’s project at a crossroads. Can it scale AI without sacrificing our view of the cosmos? The 2027 prototypes will be the first “bugs” on this new, controversial windshield.
