{"id":17335,"date":"2022-11-15T23:25:18","date_gmt":"2022-11-15T15:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/leocloud-microsoft-team-up-with-axiom-space-to-put-cloud-infrastructure-in-orbit\/"},"modified":"2022-11-15T23:25:18","modified_gmt":"2022-11-15T15:25:18","slug":"leocloud-microsoft-team-up-with-axiom-space-to-put-cloud-infrastructure-in-orbit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/leocloud-microsoft-team-up-with-axiom-space-to-put-cloud-infrastructure-in-orbit\/","title":{"rendered":"LEOcloud, Microsoft team up with Axiom Space to put cloud infrastructure in orbit"},"content":{"rendered":"
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An artist\u2019s conception shows Axiom Station taking shape in orbit. (Axiom Space Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When Houston-based Axiom Space starts putting together its commercial space station, some out-of-this-world infrastructure for cloud computing could be close behind \u2014 and Microsoft could help make it happen.<\/p>\n

That vision of \u201cinfrastructure as a service\u201d in low Earth orbit, or LEO, is what\u2019s behind a strategic collaboration agreement involving Axiom Space, Microsoft Azure Space and a Virginia-based venture called LEOcloud. The deal sets the stage for developing and delivering space-based cloud services from commercial assets.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been an amazing ride to bring all this to this level of reality,\u201d LEOcloud founder Dennis Gatens told GeekWire.<\/p>\n

Gatens has been working with partners including Ramon.Space on a line of radiation-hardened compute and data storage hardware that\u2019s well-suited for the space environment. His plan calls for LEOcloud\u2019s infrastructure to host Azure Space\u2019s cloud computing platform on the orbital modules currently being developed by Axiom Space.<\/p>\n

Steve Kitay, senior director of Microsoft Azure Space, is fully on board.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur collaboration combines the possibilities of space with the power of Microsoft Azure extending its capabilities anywhere in the universe through new space infrastructure, making cloud connectivity and compute increasingly attainable for all at the ultimate edge \u2014 on orbit in space,\u201d Kitay said today in a news release.<\/p>\n

LEOcloud\u2019s Space Edge infrastructure includes support for Red Hat OpenShift, a leading Kubernetes platform for enterprise cloud services. \u201cRed Hat is excited to be working with LEOcloud in this latest collaboration to deliver open hybrid cloud computing to the next frontier with edge computing,\u201d said Francis Chow, Red Hat\u2019s vice president and general manager for in-vehicle operating system and edge<\/p>\n

Why put the cloud in space? Gatens cites three potential advantages: lower latency for space-based applications; increased data security due to the 250-mile \u201cair gap\u201d between the planet\u2019s surface and low Earth orbit; and less need to transmit expensive streams of unprocessed data from orbit to the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cRaw data is generally high-volume data that needs to be refined at a data center, basically,\u201d he explained. \u201cSo you move those resources into space, and you reduce the latency, which will be very important for certain use cases, particularly in government.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gatens said putting cloud computing hardware on a commercial space station, like the one that Axiom Space is building, makes more sense than putting it on a constellation of satellites. \u201cThe commercial space stations provide relatively significant volume versus, for example, the SWAP [size, weight and power] constraints on a satellite to provide significant resources for compute and data storage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Axiom Space is currently planning to deliver its first commercial space module to the International Space Station in 2025, and add more modules over the course of several years. When the International Space Station is retired, perhaps in the 2030-2031 time frame, Axiom intends to detach its modules to serve as a standalone orbital outpost.<\/p>\n

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