Amazon launched AWS Snowcone into space
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has announced that it collaborated with Axiom Space on a more efficient way to analyse data using an AWS Snowcone solid-state drive device.
Snowcone offers edge processing capabilities with multiple layers of encryption in a portable form.
The two companies collaborated on the first all-private mission to the International Space Station (ISS), Axiom Mission 1 (Ax–1).
AWS announced that the joint team successfully communicated remotely with the Snowcone on the ISS, and demonstrated the repeatable ability to perform edge processing on space-based datasets.
It noted that its Snowcone SSDs were designed for rugged, mobile disconnected environments but weren’t intended for space mission use.
In seven months, AWS worked with Axiom and NASA to prepare for the Snowcone to be safely sent to the ISS.
This involved subjecting the device to NASA’s safety review process, including detailed thermal analysis and a series of laboratory tests that simulated random vibrations of a rocket during launch, or the spacecraft during flight.
AWS said an integral part of the Ax–1 mission was scientific research, with Axiom private astronauts dedicating up to 14 hours per day to over 25 research investigations and technology demonstrations, including the AWS Snowcone.
These microgravity experiments, like modelling tumour organoids for cancer research, produce large volumes of imagery and data that the crew must catalogue and analyse.
Photographs of the onboard experiments must also be screened for sensitive information.
AWS said that this research could produce terabytes of data each day. Therefore, even relatively short missions like Ax–1, which lasted 17 days, can generate several terabytes of data that must be stored and processed.
“Performing imagery analysis close to the source of the data, on orbit, is a tremendous advantage because it can improve response times and allow the crew to focus on other mission-critical tasks,” said AWS aerospace and satellite director Clint Crosier.
“This demonstration will help our teams assess how we can make edge processing a capability available to crews for future space missions.”
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