Lonestar Data Holdings Secures $5M For Moon-based Data Centers

Lonestar Data Holdings has successfully completed a $5 million seed round. The funding was provided by Scout Ventures, Seldor Capital, The Veteran Fund, Atypical Ventures, Irongate Capital, 2 Future Holding, and KittyHawk Ventures. The startup intends to deploy small data centers on the Moon. The $5 million comprises monies raised during the round last year. The first mission of the firm is slated for the second quarter of 2023. CEO Christopher Stott revealed that they were originally slated for this month, but NASA requested that their provider, Intuitive Machines, delay the mission and modify the landing spot. The landing location was relocated to the lunar South Pole region last month. A second mission with Intuitive is scheduled during the fourth quarter. 

The increased financing allows them to generate income from the Moon long into their third trip, scheduled for 2025. Lonestar intends to transport lightweight data center hardware to the Moon, as well as provide disaster recovery backup services and Edge processing for Moon-based operations. Early deployments will consist of a solar-powered server and storage module the size of a book. Skycorp, a space logistics company, manufactures hardware using multicore RISC-V processors. In 2021, Thales Alenia Space discussed NASA-supported attempts to construct a data center on the Moon. If and when the facility is operational on the Moon, it will interface with Nokia's cellular network on the Moon.