Cloud computing and artificial intelligence are about to meet in a new space station device.
Microsoft will connect its cloud computing Azure Space platform to the Spaceborne Computer-2, a Hewlett-Packard Enterprise product that promises “edge computing and [artificial intelligence] abilities to the International Space Station (ISS). “
Spaceborne Computer-2 launches February 20 aboard a Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo ships that will also deliver tons of other supplies, experiments and food for the astronaut Expedition 64. An Antares rocket will launch the Cygnus NG-15 cargo mission from NASA’s Wallops flying facility on Wallops Island, Virginia.
Spaceborne Computer-2’s mission can take two or three years. Once the computer rotates in orbit, researchers can use the Azure cloud system to perform intensive processing or to transfer results back to the device. The computer is based on HPE’s Edgeline Converged Edge system designed to work in difficult environments.
The growth of plants in space, the modeling of dust storms on Earth to help with Mars’ mission planning, and conducting ultrasound medical imaging for aerospace health care are some of the many fields that collaboration will address. said in a press release.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and a closely related field, machine learning, allow for computers to make decisions based on the data they receive to provide the most important information to people. AI and machine learning can also tackle more repetitive data tasks, allowing people to focus on different jobs.
The technology has a promise, although some have their “black box” in which computers make decisions in which statistics people may know little. But the benefits in space are the saving of time for astronauts and cosmonauts, who have strict schedules working in a remote environment where fast internet cannot always be guaranteed.
“The joint advancement of Spaceborne Computer-2 will enable astronauts to eliminate longer delays and waiting times associated with sending data to and from Earth, to undertake research and gain immediate insight for a series of projects, “the publication said.
The new project builds on the lessons learned from a predecessor proof-of-concept device called the Spaceborne Computer. It flew to the space station in 2017 for a one-year mission to investigate computer reliability in space, amid a harsh environment that includes high radiation and gravity.
“The goal was to test whether affordable, commercial servers used on Earth but equipped with purpose-designed software-based hardening features could withstand the shaking, rattling and rolling of a rocket into space, and there, seamlessly on the ISS, ” reads the press release, adding that the predecessor mission was a success.
“In addition, the acquisition of more reliable computing on the ISS is only the first step in NASA’s objectives to support human space travel to the moon, Mars and beyond, where reliable communications are a mission that is critical,” the publication said. .
Microsoft and SpaceX are also working together on an Azure Space project. In October, the companies announced Microsoft will gain access to SpaceX’s fast-growing satellite Starlink network for a new “Azure Modular Datacenter”. It would be a device that can be used anywhere, even in remote environments, to create remote access or support existing access.
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