Michael Wu is GM and President of Phison Technology Inc. (USA), a leading provider of NAND controllers and NAND storage solutions.
Space is in the news more than ever today: The James Webb Space Telescope transmits stunning images of faraway galaxies, intelligent rovers make their way across the surface of the moon, the International Space Station orbits the Earth gathering data for research and innovation and the commercial space race to Mars continues to make strides. And behind every mission, rover, probe and telescope lies data—massive volumes of it.
Since the first rocket left Earth’s atmosphere in the 1940s, data has driven every endeavor in space. Now, in today’s increasingly digital world, a new paradigm around data in space is emerging. Some organizations are no longer seeing space solely as a realm to explore and collect data—it could also serve as a potential extension of the terrestrial digital infrastructure that organizations run on today.
As the world’s volumes of data grow at an accelerating pace, many forward-thinking individuals and companies are brainstorming novel ways to store and manage that data more efficiently. To many, space-based storage, processing and computing solutions could theoretically solve some of their greatest data management challenges. The big question is quickly moving from “Will space play a role?” to “How soon will it happen—and which enterprises will lead the way?”
Data In Space Could Help Alleviate Energy Consumption Concerns
Our never-ending demand for data is having a serious impact on energy consumption. That consumption is increasing exponentially, thanks to advanced technologies such as AI, machine learning, high-performance computing and real-time analytics. Data centers are being pushed to the limit, and higher demand for data means higher amounts of energy are needed to store, process and manage that data.
A recent report by the U.S. Department of Energy found that U.S. data centers consumed just over 4% of the country’s total electricity in 2023, a figure that could skyrocket to 12% by 2028. Data centers require plenty of energy to run, but they also need powerful cooling systems to ward off overheating. As we grapple with the effects of climate change, reducing energy consumption and increasing sustainability have become serious concerns for world governments and enterprises alike.
Moving some of those data centers to space, whether placed in stationary locations on the moon or traveling in near-Earth orbit, could reduce the environmental impact of our terrestrial digital infrastructure. Space is very cold—like near absolute zero—so cooling wouldn’t be needed. And solar power, which is more plentiful and less interrupted in space, could serve as the primary energy source for orbiting or lunar data centers.
It Could Also Simplify Issues of Data Privacy, Sovereignty And Recovery
Compliance with increasingly stringent regulations around data privacy and sovereignty is a continual challenge for most organizations. For example, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union has set a very high standard for data protection and has created corresponding ripples of legislation around the globe.
Storing data in space could be a novel approach to staying compliant with complex and evolving regulations. Moving data centers off-world puts them outside of national and governmental boundaries and could alleviate many data sovereignty concerns. Data in space could be stored in siloed hardware owned, operated and managed by each country as needed. Maintaining physical security and privacy could also be simpler in extra-terrestrial data centers. Due to the extreme isolation of the infrastructure, organizations could eliminate the risk of certain types of data breaches.
Space could also be an ideal backup repository for the world’s most precious information archives. While data that needs fast, low-latency access is best kept on Earth, backups of important information could be stored in space, far away from natural disasters and other threats.
Addressing New Challenges In Space-Based Data Centers
Throughout history, the drive to overcome technological obstacles has often led to new challenges. Could moving data centers to space theoretically solve some of our biggest data management issues? Certainly. Will new challenges arise that we’ll need to overcome to make data in space a reality? Of course. But humans are creative and adaptable—and what’s exciting is that people are already working on solutions.
At Phison, we had the opportunity to work with Lonestar Data Holdings and their Freedom mission, which recently put the first hardware data center on the surface of the moon. Phison solid state drives (SSDs) are already in operation on the International Space Station (including outside the station in the vacuum of space), as well as in the Perseverance rover on Mars. A physical data center on the moon was simply the next step.
We worked hard to engineer our SSDs to meet the intense demands of space travel—from extreme temperatures and vibrations to powerful g-forces and radiation. The mission proved the ability to support this level of data command, upload and transfer on the lunar surface, and will continue to inform Lonestar Data Holdings, Phison and other organizations around the world how to go about building long-lasting digital infrastructure for operation beyond the Earth.
The Dawn Of A New Digital Era In Space
The idea of data storage and computing in space isn’t science fiction—it is on the way to becoming a reality. As organizations work to overcome challenges of energy consumption, data security and sovereignty, the potential advantages of space-based infrastructure are increasingly difficult to ignore. While significant technological and logistical hurdles remain, pioneering individuals and organizations are already proving that data in space is not just possible, but viable.
As the world gains momentum in its quest to explore possibilities in space, it will be interesting to see which enterprises embrace this shift and take the lead. They may well be the ones to define the next generation of digital infrastructure and the very nature of data storage and computing.
Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
This post was created with our nice and easy submission form. Create your post!
