US startup to establish first solar-powered data center on Moon in February

This small, fully operational data center will piggyback on Intuitive Machines’ upcoming lunar lander mission.

“It will be the first physical data center 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,” the company website noted. 

Lonestar’s lunar data center will not run for applications that require immediate access to data. Instead, it prioritizes the secure and long-term preservation of crucial information.

Lonestar has already secured early customers

Lonestar has secured several high-profile customers for their lunar data center named “Freedom.” These customers include: The State of Florida, The Isle of Man government, AI firm Valkyrie, and Pop rock band Imagine Dragons.

Reportedly, the Freedom data center will be powered by solar energy and utilize naturally cooled solid-state drives, making it environmentally sustainable.

The lunar data center will have a ground-based backup at Flexential’s Tampa, Florida facility.

Lonestar believes that storing critical data on the Moon offers several key advantages. Firstly, it provides unparalleled security against natural disasters, cyberattacks, and even the potential for geopolitical instability on Earth. Secondly, it reduces the environmental impact of large-scale data centers, which consume vast amounts of energy.

Lonestar has already demonstrated the proof-of-concept towards this ambitious goal.

The company, in collaboration with Space Florida and Intuitive Machines, successfully conducted the first full data storage test from the Moon’s surface in February 2024.

In 2021, they successfully tested their data center technology in microgravity aboard the International Space Station.

It could also help Artemis missions

Building and maintaining a data center on the Moon presents major engineering challenges. Moreover, it involves the high cost of space travel, the harsh lunar environment, and the difficulty of repairs and upgrades.

However, the potential rewards are many, particularly in protecting valuable data for generations.

In an older press release, Lonestar founder Chris Stott said: “Data is the greatest currency created by the human race. We are dependent upon it for nearly everything we do, and it is too important to us as a species to store in Earth’s ever more fragile biosphere. Earth’s largest satellite, our Moon, represents the ideal place to safely store our future.”

Earlier Interesting Engineering reported that Lonestar’s mission to store data off-world draws parallels to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. This vault safeguards crop diversity by storing seeds in a remote Arctic location. Likewise, Lonestar aims to protect crucial human knowledge for generations on the Moon. 

The establishment of this lunar data center could also benefit NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to establish a long-term human presence on the Moon. 

It could help store and process the vast amounts of scientific data generated by Artemis missions. 

As per Reuters, several companies are actively pursuing the development of space-based data centers. For instance, Lumen Orbit company recently secured $11 million in funding at a $40 million valuation, indicating investor confidence in the space-based data center market.