Google lands in Long Beach amid orbital data center talks with SpaceX

Google's Gulfstream G550 N904G touched down at Long Beach Airport on Wednesday morning after a 2-hour, 56-minute flight from Rogers Municipal Airport in Arkansas. The tech giant operates a pair of these 18-passenger jets from its base at Moffett Federal Airfield, but this week's trip put the plane in the Los Angeles basin—home to SpaceX's Hawthorne headquarters.

The timing is telling. On Tuesday, both the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg reported that Google is in talks with SpaceX to launch orbital data centers under its Project Suncatcher initiative. Per TechCrunch, the plan involves networking solar-powered satellites equipped with Google's Tensor Processing Units into a space-based AI cloud, with a prototype launch targeted for 2027. A meeting with SpaceX to advance those talks would explain the midweek arrival in Long Beach.

Google's aviation pattern shows regular shuttles between Moffett and the L.A. area—the same route N904G flew on May 6. But the Rogers stopover is unusual, suggesting the trip originated from some non-routine business before heading to the SpaceX corridor. If a deal materializes, it would mark a remarkable rapprochement: Musk once founded OpenAI partly as a counterweight to Google's AI ambitions, as the Reuters report on Tuesday noted. Now they may share a launch pad.