(Source: AWSOfficial website)
Edge computing devices are often found in remote, disconnected, and fairly harsh environments, said Clint Crosier, a retired U.S. Air Force major general and director of AWS Aerospace and Satellites. After 35 years of working in space, he doesn’t think there is a harsher scene than space.
Clint Crosier, who joined AWS last year, helped oversee the infrastructure of the U.S. Space Force before retiring. Today’s space industry is worth $425 billion globally.
It is expected to reach $1 trillion by 2040. In addition, the number of satellite launches is also expected to triple between 2018 and 2022.
Prepare to install AWS Snowcone before launchSSD
AWS chose to certify the Snowball, the smallest Snowcone edge computing and data transfer device, to undergo NASA thermal, vacuum, acoustic and vibration testing over a five-month period.
But given that the equipment is in the well-shielded ISS environment, radiation testing can be avoided. Arriving at the destination, the AWS team, led by Daryl Shuck, quickly established a connection.
They started by uploading a machine learning (ML) model for object detection and then seeing if it kept running smoothly throughout the Axiom task.
Axiom astronauts conducted a total of 25 experiments, including AWS Snowcone. An object detection model running on Snowball that helps it classify all items and flag those that are excluded from public distribution.
Although the demo was relatively simple, by participating in a full certification process, the company learned a lot while laying a solid foundation for future missions.
Finally, Amazon AWS has partnered with Blue Origin and will provide computing power for its Orbital Reef commercial space station.
