Tanya Weaver Wed 22 Jan 2025
Collected at: https://eandt.theiet.org/2025/01/22/solar-powered-data-centre-heading-lunar-surface-soon-launch
In February 2025 Lonestar Data Holdings will launch its small, fully operational data centre heading for the Moon.
Florida-based start-up Lonestar Data Holdings has had its eye on the Moon for a number of years. The mission is to be the first company to put physical data centres on and around the Moon.
While small, these lunar data centres will be used for data storage and edge processing, and will have the capability to restore digital information.
In February 2024, Lonestar revealed it had successfully completed its first data transmission test of its secure data storage concept using an Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander.
The company claimed that this test of its space-based edge computing concept, which is entirely solar-powered and carbon neutral, proves the viability of software-defined infrastructure in the harsh conditions of space.
The next mission is to launch a fully assembled data centre. This 8 Terabyte edge data centre powered by a Microchip Polarfire System-on-a-Chip running Linux will host a range of edge processing applications, including those from AI firms Valkyrie Intelligence and the Exploration Institute.
This mission is scheduled to launch in February 2025 aboard Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 Athena Moon lander using SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.
Lonestar CEO Chris Stott told Reuters that the company is pulling out all the stops to ensure the mission goes smoothly. ”This idea of using Earth’s largest satellite as an anchor point, it’s far enough that we can have security on [communications],” he said, adding the focus was on disaster recovery and storage and not on latency-dependent activities.
The Reuters article highlights that the firm’s operations will also have ground-based back-up from data centre firm Flexential’s facility in Tampa, Florida.
The concept of space-based data centres is proving to be appealing to companies. In October 2024, Lonestar announced that through its Lunar Developer Network developers will be able to build and test their owns apps for use on the Moon and in lunar orbit using Lonestar’s platform.
James Burns-Montante, chief engineer at Lonestar, said: “We are creating a suite of tools that allow prospective and current customers to develop their applications terrestrially using best-in-class software and techniques, while experiencing life-like interaction with a model of our system as it would operate in space.”
According to Reuters, Lonestar has signed up the State of Florida, Isle of Man government, AI firm Valkyrie and pop rock band Imagine Dragons as customers for the data centre launching next month.
There are many Moon missions currently under way, from collecting samples from the lunar surface – such as India’s Chandrayaan-4 mission to the Moon’s south pole – to Nasa’s mission of having a human presence on the Moon .
There is also a Moon mining mission to extract helium-3 in bid to alleviate extreme supply shortages on Earth, as well as a project to develop small nuclear fission reactors aimed at providing power on the lunar surface.
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