Microsoft is reaching beyond the edge of the planet to provide extra-terrestrial services. The company will work with Hewlett Packard Enterprises to connect to a PC on the International Space Station (ISS) via its Azure platform.
The Spaceborne Computer-2 will connect to Azure through NASA and HPE ground stations, delivering much great data processing power to the space station.
Azure Heads Into Space
As reported on the official Microsoft Azure blog, the Spaceborne Computer-2 (SBC-2) will provide the ISS astronauts with technologies more akin to their terrestrial counterparts.
The hope is that it drastically reduces the amount of time it takes to transfer data between the ISS and Earth, as well as reduce the amount of bandwidth required for processing and analysis.
Astronauts and space explorers deserve access to the best cloud computing technologies and advanced processing at the ultimate edge. Sometimes analysis needs to be done immediately at the edge where every passing moment counts, and other times the analysis is so massively complex that it can only be performed with the power of the hyperscale cloud.
The Spaceborne Computer-2 uses Hewlett Packard Enterprises' Edgeline Converged Edge system, which is "purposely engineered for the harsh edge environments" and will bring heaps of Azure functionality to the ISS.
When the connection is up and running, the SBC-2 will enable research in areas including weather modeling for future Mars missions, plant and hydroponic analysis to support food and crop growth in space, and medical imaging on the ISS itself (to support astronaut healthcare).
Dr. Mark Fernandez, Solutions Architect of Converged Edge Systems at HPE and Principal Investigator for Spaceborne Computer-2, said:
By bringing together HPE's Spaceborne Computer-2, which is based on the HPE Edgeline Converged Edge system for advanced edge computing and AI capabilities, with Microsoft Azure to connect to the cloud, we are enabling space explorers to seamlessly transmit large data sets to and from Earth and benefit from an edge-to-cloud experience
The Next Phase of Microsoft's Azure Space Initiative
Microsoft's announcement is another step forward for its Microsoft Azure Space initiative, which it launched in October 2020.
The Azure Space initiative is Microsoft's effort to take "the next giant leap in cloud computing," bringing its Azure cloud computing platform to space.
Azure Space has previously worked with the SpaceX Starlink project to deliver satellite broadband to its Azure Modular Datacenter (MDC) and continues its work on the Azure Orbital project, which will extend connectivity between its cloud datacenters using satellite technology.
