HPE has unveiled the HPE Spaceborne Computer-4, an advanced compute module designed specifically to operate in space – and it’s heading to the moon.

The system will be deployed on Astrolab’s Flex Lunar Innovation Platform (FLIP) rover as part of an upcoming mission for the Moon Base II program. The move will see tests conducted to assess suitability of advanced computing capabilities for future missions.

According to HPE, these tests will benchmark AI and high-performance computing (HPC) capabilities, helping to create the “technological foundation” required for research on the lunar surface.

“Large language models (LLMs) will deliver insights, analyze visual data, and support autonomous monitoring at the lunar edge,” the company said in a blog post.

“Additional tests will process LiDAR data for mapping, navigation, terrain analysis, and infrastructure development, while an AI services container will demonstrate reliable deployment of scalable AI service applications on the Moon.”

Astrolab was selected by NASA earlier this year to provide lunar rover capabilities for Artemis astronauts as the agency prepares for a full return to the moon.

In a press briefing ahead of the announcement, Jaret Matthews, founder and CEO of Astrolab, said the move marks a significant first step in scientific research from the lunar surface.

“I think for the foreseeable future, the most valuable export from the moon is going to be data,” he said. “The technologies to collect, process, store data so that we can return that value to our customers are, you know, central to our business.”

The moon is “far away”, as Matthews noted, and this means the system faces problems in terms of time delays and bandwidth constraints. He told attendees that this project is essentially redefining the concept of edge computing.

“Pushing compute out to the edge so you can do more, create more value, and ultimately satisfy customer needs, these technologies are imperative for that,” he commented.

Under the hood of HPE Spaceborne Computer-4

HPE Spaceborne Computer-4 is a “lightweight, self-contained, and fanless” compute module designed specifically to survive harsh environments, according to HPE.

The system will be operating on the lunar south pole, and will be equipped with a lower-power CPU and GPU. Similarly, the module will leverage 1TB of flash storage through Japanese data storage firm, Kioxia.

Kioxia’s involvement builds on long-standing ties with the HPE Spaceborne program, the company said, with the two companies having worked extensively on mission activities and tests of data storage under lunar conditions.

As part of the move, HPE will also provide support for Astrolab’s mission control site in Hawthorne, California, with the company relying on HPE Private Cloud for storage purposes, and HPE CloudOps Software for workload management.

Lunar experiments

As part of the Spaceborne Computer-4 project, NASA and Deloitte will deploy a series of AI workloads on the moon and conduct experiments.

The Federated Learning for Unbounded and Intelligent Decentralization (FLUID) experiment, for example, will see NASA run an AI neural net model trained with data from the earth, moon, and on the International Space Station (ISS).

According to HPE, this aims to demonstrate how to coordinate three separate AI models from immensely disparate locations. NASA will also carry out tests on a tuned LLM with semantic processing capabilities to help find and interpret onboard documents.

Meanwhile, Deloitte’s Silent Shield will provide predictive cyber analytics and anomaly detection capabilities. This is a new cybersecurity system developed by the firm.

Extreme conditions

Faraz Valani, senior director and head of go-to-market at Kioxia, echoed Matthews’ comments regarding challenges, noting that the “rules are very different” for storage operating in harsh environments.

“You have a lot more challenges up there than we’re accustomed to down here,” he told attendees. “In space, everything is constrained.”

When deploying in a traditional data center, Valani noted that operators naturally have access to power, cooling, connectivity, and crucially, physical space. The upcoming lunar mission creates huge challenges across all those fronts.

“If something fails, you can simply just go out and replace it. In space, however, you don’t have that luxury because every watt of power, every gram of weight, and every inch of space makes a significant difference,” he explained.

“The slightest variation in any of these variables could simply make or break anything that you’re trying to accomplish up there.”

Scott Wiest, HPE’s CTO for global sales, noted that HPE “goes to pretty far extremes” when it comes to testing durability of traditional infrastructure, including freezing hardware, shaking it, and even putting it ovens to ensure it can handle extreme conditions.

“We have stuff deployed in extreme conditions, so this taught us to really go extreme,” he said. “Think about cooling differently, as you referred to. Think about being maximally efficient about weight, thermals, power, performance.”

Wiest said that long-running tests of HPE hardware on the ISS played a key role in fine-tuning capabilities on this front and will stand the compute module in good stead for the lunar mission.

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