For most people in IT, “the edge” conjures images of small computers housed in retail outlets, hospitals, or maybe an oil rig. But the word takes on an entirely new meaning for Lonestar Data Holdings, which today took a big step in sending the first petabyte-scale edge data device to the moon, hopefully paving the way for a commercial business storing data for disaster recovery (DR) purposes.
SpaceX today successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and it’s currently on the way to the moon. The primary payload is a NASA-funded lander that will run science experiments, but one of its secondary payloads is what Lonestar Data Holdings says will be “the first data center hardware on the moon.”
Lonestar’s Freedom data center is attached to the IM-2 NOVA-C lander, Athena (Image courtesy Lonestar)
Lonestar Data Holdings is hitching a ride on Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 NOVA-C lander, dubbed Athena. After separating from the Falcon 9 rocket, IM-2 will take five days to traverse cis lunar space, arriving at the moon on March 3.
IM-2 carries several payloads, including Freedom, the name of Lonestar’s data center device. Lonestar worked with Phison, a Taiwanese storage device manufacturer, to develop a system capable of withstanding harsh lunar conditions, including cosmic rays and extreme temperature swings.
Lonestar’s ultimate goal with Freedom is to build a data storage node that’s capable of storing data for organizations on Earth, and beyond. The St. Petersburg, Florida, company envisions Freedom and subsequent devices as a “premium disaster recovery” option for organizations that demand “an added layer of protection against natural disasters and unexpected impacts on critical data.”
Freedom’s 3D-printed exterior was built by SpaceBilt and was designed by Bjarke Ingels and Martin Voelkle of BIG, Lonestar says. It features solar power and natural cooling capabilities.
“Today’s Freedom mission is just the beginning of a petabyte-level, long-term mission and we strategically selected a partner [Phison] who could scale alongside us even in the harshest environmental conditions,” said Christopher Stott, the Lonestar CEO. “Freedom now serves as a proof of concept for robust, space-ready SSD technology, paving the way for next-generation applications in lunar and interstellar missions.”
This was the third test of Lonestar’s space-faring storage devices. Last year the company partnered with Intuitive Machines with its IM-1 launch, which included Lonestar’s data payload, dubbed Independence. Independence was powered by a RISC V processor from Microchip and ran a specialized version of Linux. In December 2021, the company claims to have launched the world’s first software defined data center on the International Space Station (ISS).
Ultimately, Lonestar plans to have “a series of purpose-built lunar orbiting data storage spacecraft with the first launching in 2027,” the company says. Lonestar is backed by investors, including Scout Ventures, 2 Future Holdings, Seldor Capital, the Veteran Fund, Irongate Global Capital, Atypical Ventures, Kittyhawk Ventures, and Backswing Ventures.
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