Why are data centers in space needed?

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The failure of the Luna-25 mission was not the only space failure of the current summer. An abnormal situation on board the first space data center occurred on July 11, 2023. As Nikita Tsaplin, CEO of the hosting provider RUVDS, which organized the launch, told ComNews, there was a problem with reading the SD card.

"On July 11, the launch hong kong whatsapp resource container "released" the RUVDS device as scheduled. But it was not possible to immediately receive telemetry from the device - it seemed that it was "silent". The next day, radio amateurs managed to catch telemetry, but the device itself was not working correctly. Apparently, the problem was with the memory card: either an attempt to read the first file on the card failed, and therefore it "hung" for some time until it switched to the normal beacon-repeater mode, or reading was in progress, but the card did not respond. We believe that this is the case: the card could have disconnected from the board, frozen, or, conversely, overheated," noted Nikita Tsaplin.

In addition, he said that the launch of the Soyuz-2.1b rocket was postponed from autumn 2023 to June 27, which reduced the time for preparing the satellites and forced the developers to abandon the control circuit and the ability to remotely re-upload the firmware. As a result, instead of a full-fledged Internet page, the developers had to write a 200-byte website, which they managed to place in the satellite repeater controller.

"Initially, we planned to host a heavier page, technical problems led us to cut it down to a more primitive form. Although it is still a site - on July 13, the RUVDS pico-satellite demonstrated for the first time in history the possibility of hosting an HTML page from Earth orbit. In the end, the problem with the map was not solved, it does not work, but backup options helped us," said the author of the mission, emphasizing that the mission was a test.


"The idea was to launch a server satellite into orbit and test the capabilities of network equipment in extreme conditions - zero gravity, high radiation and extreme temperatures. The mission of the project is educational and scientific: in addition to testing equipment, the device can help collect data for research purposes," added Nikita Tsaplin.

He emphasized that the authors of the project did not set themselves the task of making money on the project. "The plan was that we would draw conclusions about the prospects of hosting in orbit and the possibilities of attracting a wide number of IT enthusiasts to the "near-space". We have achieved this and will continue to do so. The funds invested in the project went to the development of Internet technologies, we did not incur any losses. And it is too early to talk about profits at this stage - I repeat, the project was not aimed at making money, and if we started, say, selling advertising, the scientific focus of the initiative would have shifted, and we did not want that," said Nikita Tsaplin.

According to him, the device will work in orbit for about a year. At the same time, the author of the development believes in the future of space data centers. "In the long term, a space data center is security in terms of unauthorized access, as well as convenience in exploring planets, storing information or processing images. The more humanity is present in space, the more computing resources it will need, especially in orbit, it is only now that research conducted in space is processed on Earth, but it is unlikely to continue for long. Yes, in the long term, this is a whole market, the heyday of which, however, is still far away," Nikita Tsaplin told ComNews.

Science journalist and editor-in-chief of the publication "Pro Kosmos" Alexander Baulin reminded that any equipment, especially test equipment, can fail in space. "That is why backup systems are almost always provided in any apparatus. This is what helped the engineers with the RUVDS project - yes, the card did not respond, but they found a way out of the situation. That is how space works - by trial and error, trying to find a way out of difficult situations," said Alexander Baulin.