{"event":{"id":"evt-hist-2026phase26-suncatcher-prototype-in-orbit","dedupe_key":"space_prototype_launch_confirmation:2026-10-01:google-reports-project-suncatcher-prototype-satellite-reached-orbit","event_type":"space_prototype_launch_confirmation","title":"Google reports Project Suncatcher prototype satellite reached orbit","summary":"Google reported on October 1 that its Project Suncatcher prototype launched on SpaceX Transporter-18 and made contact in orbit. This is a physical launch distinct from September planning, not an operational space-based AI datacenter or validated long-term TPU radiation survival.","occurred_at":"2026-10-01T00:00:00.000Z","published_at":"2026-10-01T00:00:00.000Z","observed_at":"2026-10-18T06:30:00.000Z","reconstructed_at":"2026-10-18T06:30:00.000Z","ingest_type":"historical_backfill","locations":null,"status":"verified","confidence":0.89,"metadata":{"evidence_only":1,"global_novelty_unproven":1,"no_production_writes":1,"original_index_position":940,"source_reported_claims_limited":1},"created_at":"2026-10-19T05:50:17.235Z","updated_at":"2026-10-19T05:50:17.235Z"},"artifacts":[{"id":"art-hist-2026phase26-suncatcher-prototype-in-orbit","dedupe_key":"5174761c44ba0351bc0799bfef67f2af4ab4b0f7a8966933005c67f5e074d2ac","canonical_url":"https://blog.google/innovation-and-ai/models-and-research/google-research/project-suncatcher-prototype/","evidence_locator":"","artifact_type":"original_publication","title":"Google reports Project Suncatcher prototype satellite reached orbit","summary":"","creator_entities":[],"released_at":"2026-10-01T00:00:00.000Z","content_hash":null,"metadata":[],"created_at":"2026-10-19T05:50:17.227Z","updated_at":"2026-10-19T05:50:17.227Z","relation":"documented_by"}],"signals":[]}