Google's imminent October 1, 2026 launch of its Project Suncatcher prototype satellite aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 marks the clearest near-term catalyst, carrying tensor processing units (TPUs) to test AI inference workloads like simple Gemini queries in low Earth orbit. The experiment evaluates radiation tolerance, thermal management via heat pipes, and solar power gains up to eight times terrestrial levels, addressing terrestrial grid constraints for energy-intensive large language model inference. Competitive filings from SpaceX (up to one million satellites targeting 2028 deployment) and Starcloud (already operating an orbital H100 GPU with prior LLM training) alongside Blue Origin's Project Sunrise underscore a race for scalable orbital compute clusters. Follow-on Google satellites planned for 2027 will test laser interlinks, while regulatory approvals and Starship-scale launches remain key swing factors for broader deployment timelines.