The Artemis II mission, currently underway, aims to send three Americans and one Canadian back to and around the Moon, a journey that will mark the furthest journey by humans into space in decades. The program is part of a series of initiatives, including next-generation space stations, a lunar habitat and even a manned mission to Mars, that will greatly expand the human presence in outer space.
Crucially, all of these missions will almost certainly involve space versions of consumer technologies, which have now become a fixture of life in space. (Astronauts aboard the International Space Station use laptops and smartphones.)
However, these modern conveniences also create a host of IT problems. On the last Artemis II mission, astronauts (again, also with smartphones) had to communicate with mission controllers who were experiencing problems with their systems. The culprit: Microsoft Outlook.
In fact, making computers work in space can be difficult. This includes issues related to the microgravity environment, as well as challenges related to communication networks, as signals reaching Earth can be limited and slow. After all, there’s no live tech support when you’re on the Moon, or even Mars.
“When we colonize something like the Moon or eventually go to Mars, I think there are a lot of complexities with that,” explains Manoj Leelanivas, president of HP Solutions, which frequently works with NASA on space hardware. “In the computing environment, you typically assume liquid cooling or air cooling. You look at standard principles of convection, which don’t really apply in space. You have to deal with radiation.”
fast company I chatted with Leelanivas about what it takes to build computers for space and how that work could change as manned missions take on even more ambitious endeavors.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How is designing a workstation for space or microgravity different from designing a workstation for Earth?
First, let me address the lack of reliability and connectivity. In space, connectivity is not very reliable, meaning computing has to be really close to the data to support real-time decisions. Add computing power and GPU power to make AI-based decisions locally, even without connectivity. That’s one of the capabilities our flow workstations offer. They have huge elements of GPU capabilities and can even run 200 billion parameter models. Some of them can even go further.
This allows you to work in an environment without connectivity. This is important to point out anomalies, faster and faster, without waiting for the delay to return to Earth and all that. It’s not just about space, but in the control room and beyond, you need to collect real-time data and make quick decisions.
What about computers on the moon?
One of the biggest challenges the moon presents to us is that you can’t go quickly and solve a problem. . . . You have to really plan, which means we have more self-sustaining systems, that is, systems that can be broken and recovered. We think about: How can things be processed as locally as possible? This is slightly different from the terrestrial world, where we assume a lot of things in terms of redundancy and capabilities.
How does HP view its relationship with private space companies?
We are engaging with most of these companies without going into a specific name, because you are not allowed to do so. Our workstations are the number one workstations in these activities. The deep computing required, the modeling required, and the track record of analyzing large amounts of telemetry data – all of this puts HP in a great position to work with many of these companies. . . . The only thing we are talking about publicly is this relationship we have with NASA.
What about orbital data centers?
It’s always a good idea to think of new ways to solve problems in a company. . . . Power is a big requirement for data centers. . . . If you go to space with the independent power of the sun, that can be harnessed. Energy may not be such a difficult problem in terms of power generation. But then it creates other problems, like: How do you cool systems in an environment where convection doesn’t really work? It is definitely an ambitious idea, but at the same time it is very significant, because if we can solve data centers in space, it will solve a huge energy crisis that will occur in our future on Earth.
How is AI designed for space?
In fact, AI creates the opportunity for self-sustaining systems in space. . . . Machines can perform many functions autonomously. Sometimes we inject the human being into the mix to make sure that certain things are done in the right and ethical way. Sometimes too much human intervention can slow down the AI process a bit. . . . Sometimes a high-powered autonomous system within safety barriers is the right way to go. . . . You don’t have time to come and go.
I think the work we’re doing, and the work many other companies are doing, is enabling speed for agents, with the following models. [them]. . . . We’re not just building great computer and hardware systems. We are also developing technologies to bring them together quickly.