TECH firms are racing to launch solar-powered data centres into space that will fuel Earth’s AI revolution.
The world’s data requirements are sky-rocketing as AI technology advances at a lightening-fast pace, so firms are thinking outside of the box – and the atmosphere – for solutions.
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Cheaper rocket launches, advances in solar energy and efficient cooling systems have ignited a race amongst startups to turn space into a massive data hub.
One space tech startup has already unveiled plans to build the first physical data centre on the surface of the moon.
Lonestar Data Holdings will launch a full-assembled structure into space next month using using a SpaceX rocket and moon landing gear from Intuitive Machines.
The company website boasts: “It will be the first physical data centre flown off the planet.
“It is serving a host of data storage and edge processing customers, each in their own way, expanding the art of the possible.”
Chris Scott, Lonestar CEO, said the company is laser-focused on overseeing a mission success.
He said: “This idea of using earth’s largest satellite as an anchor point, it’s far enough that we can have security [on communications].”
He explained the focus of the project was on disaster recovery and storage.
The data centre, called Freedom, already has some notable clients signed up to its services including the State of Florida, the Isle of Man government, the AI firm Valkyrie and pop-rock band Imagine Dragons.
The digital storage facility will be solar-powered and use natural cooling mechanisms.
The distance data centre will have an earth-based counterpart as backup at a facility in Florida.
The amount of money in space data is growing sharply as the energy required for earth-based operations soars.
Last month, Lumen Orbit raised $11 million at a $40 million valuation.
Lonestar has raised nearly $10 million with a valuation of less than $30 million, Pitchbook data shows.
But shooting entire data centres into space comes with challenges of its own.
The are obviously much trickier to maintain, and there is limited scope for upgrades.
There is also the constant, very costly, threat of rocket failure.
Chris Quilty, co-ceo of the research firm Quilt Space, said: “When you launch a satellite into space, it’s binary.
“If it fails, it’s dead. There’s no way to recover it. There are no ways to fix it.”
There have been over a hundred missions to the moon, but a human has not journeyed up since 1972.
Lonestar’s data centre mission will be unmanned.
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