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Data Centers in Space: Separating Fact from Science Fiction
There has been increased talk of data centers in space in 2025. Could the final frontier of digital infrastructure be taking shape?
6 Min Read
Organizations are ramping up efforts to make space-based data centers a reality, pushing the boundaries of computing beyond Earth.Image: Alamy
Over the past year, there has been a lot of activity in the data center space, as operators race to meet AI’s demands. As it turns out, there are also a growing number of proposed data centers – or at least pseudo-data centers – in space itself.
The vast emptiness of space, once the exclusive domain of scientific research and telecommunications, is starting to emerge as the newest frontier for data center infrastructure. In recent weeks, there have been a series of announcements about the commercialization of extraterrestrial computing, as both orbital and lunar data center projects demonstrated viable operations beyond Earth’s atmosphere.
Among the list of space-based data center projects, Red Hat is collaborating with Axiom Space to launch the Data Center Unit-1 (AxDCU-1) to the International Space Station (ISS) in spring 2025. This prototype will test orbital data center capabilities for cloud computing, AI/ML, data fusion, and space cybersecurity.
Meanwhile, Lonestar Data Holdings says it has achieved a significant milestone with the successful operation of its Freedom data center payload while traveling to the moon aboard Intuitive Machines’ Athena Lunar Lander.
The Axiom Space and Lonestar Data Holdings efforts are the latest in the last few years to extend compute capacity beyond Earth. In August 2024, a startup called Rotonium raised $1.1 million to put a quantum computer in space.
Lonestar’s Freedom ‘data center’ payload on its way to the moon on Intuitive Machines' Athena Lunar Lander. Image: Intuitive Machines
Defining the Concept of a Data Center in Space
Among the many reasons for interest in orbital data centers is the potential for improved sustainability. However, the definition of a data center in space remains fluid, shaped by current technological limitations and evolving industry perspectives.
Lonestar Data Holdings chairman and CEO Christopher Stott told Data Center Knowledge that his firm works from the definitions of a data center from industry standards bodies including the Uptime Institute and the Building Industry Consulting Service International (BICSI).
He noted that the Uptime Institute defines a data center as “a physical location that houses computing equipment and hardware.” BICSI defines a data center as a physical location that houses computing equipment and infrastructure.
Both these definitions are somewhat sparse. After all, computing infrastructure exists in nearly every U.S. home, but an Xbox doesn’t make a household a data center. Likewise, today’s space-based data centers are not full-scale deployments with thousands or tens of thousands of servers. However, they are noteworthy for extending computing, storage, and processing power beyond a single node, marking the start of a new data center frontier.
Building Blocks in the Data Center Space Race
In the Lonestar Data Holdings deployment, Stott said the ‘data center’ on the moon has a modern FPGA chip running RISC-V and operating two types of Linux: Yamato and Ubuntu. The system is perhaps better defined as an edge data center, potentially enabling ‘disaster recovery-as-a-service’ capabilities.
With the Axiom Space and Red Hat deployment, the term ‘data center’ might not be entirely appropriate, at least in the traditional sense.
“The AxDCU-1 is a building block toward large-scale orbital data centers (ODCs), hence it is called a ‘unit’ versus a ‘center’,” Jason Aspiotis, global director of in-space data and security, Axiom Space, told Data Center Knowledge.
Aspiotis explained that the AxDCU-1 is akin to a small terrestrial data server. He added that Axiom Space is deploying it on the ISS to mature the foundational components for larger-scale ODCs, while also demonstrating how these systems can support satellites and spacecraft with in-space data storage and processing.
Axiom Space plans to deploy larger ODC infrastructure in the coming years that are more similar to terrestrial data centers in terms of utility and capacity. The goal is to develop and operationalize terrestrial-grade cloud regions in low-Earth orbit (LEO).
Space-based data centers are not yet large-scale deployments but represent the beginning of a new frontier in computing, storage, and processing power. Image: Alamy
The Challenges of Space-Based Data Center Deployments
With the Axiom Space AxDCU-1 unit, the core software building block is the Red Hat Device Edge technology.
Tony James, chief architect at Red Hat’s science and space division, told Data Center Knowledge that the technology is built for remote, resource-constrained environments, making it ideal for AxDCU-1’s deployment in orbit, where traditional IT support is unavailable.
James noted that space presents the ultimate edge computing challenge – limited bandwidth, extreme conditions, and no room for failure.
“To ensure resilience and autonomy, the platform incorporates automated rollbacks and self-healing capabilities through delta updates and health monitoring,” James said. “These features allow the system to detect failures and revert to a stable state without human intervention, a critical safeguard in space.”
What Can You Do with a Data Center in Space?
With the Axiom Space deployment, the initial workloads will be small but scalable to the much larger ODC infrastructure that the company plans to deploy in the coming years.
“Red Hat Device Edge enables secure, low-latency data processing directly on the ISS, allowing applications to run where the data is being generated,” James said. “By leveraging AI/ML models at the edge, we can optimize autonomous operations, analyze large datasets in real-time, and enable intelligent decision-making without relying on Earth-based infrastructure.”
Lonestar, meanwhile, is looking more specifically at using its deployments for data backup and recovery purposes. Stott said that the initial customers are storing non-regulated encrypted data as a test of disaster recovery. As it turns out, the time delay latency that takes data to get back/forth to the moon is a net positive.
“Latency is our friend… it makes us more secure, [and] it means don’t use TCP/IP to connect,” Stott said. The executive also doesn’t see his firm’s offering as competitive with Axiom Space. Rather, he sees it as complementary.
“Closer to Earth, you are looking at low-latency applications and processing for terrestrial markets,” Stott said. “We are far away from Earth – 384,000km away, as opposed to 400km away in low-earth orbit. Our focus is data storage for terrestrial markets.”
The ‘Kitty Hawk’ Moment for Space Data Centers?
Lonestar Data Holdings described the deployment of its so-called lunar data center as a “Kitty Hawk moment.” That refers to the first powered human flight, which occurred in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in 1903.
“It is a Kitty Hawk moment for us, as we’ve tested hardware and software on the first data center designed to leave the planet and to operate in deep space and from the moon,” Stott said. “We met all our technical milestones, wow we can move forward with confidence.”
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Stott noted that his company’s software-defined data center was previously tested on the ISS in December 2021 and April 2022. Bringing the technology to the moon’s surface takes it to the next level, but there is still a long way to go.
Stott noted that his company has larger capacity data centers on the books for future launches.
“Just like the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk wasn’t a Boeing 787… our first data center off planet is not a soccer stadium-sized behemoth," he said.
