I was trying to rack my head for any possible way this made sense and was coming up empty. Normally i mistrust conspiracy theories like this, but its the only explanation that seems remotely plausible.
After reading others comments, I'm trying to imagine the utility of having AI training, inference, intelligence filtering, etc in space, like, spy satellites all sharing an AI hub, and that doesn't make sense either. They can just as easily download spy satellite images, and apply "as much AI as they can print money to buy" to it, and not be limited.
As a for profit company, google has a fiduciary obligation to not piss away money on projects that have no foreseeable commercial value ( unless fee contracted by an external entity to do so ).
I'm sticking with "flight validation for AI super weapons" as the only revenue stream I can foresee.
It ticks both the "potential revenue stream" and "legit R&D tax benefits" boxes.