Going Beyond The Cloud

Is the cloud heading into the stratosphere?
When we talk about storing data in the cloud, the majority of us are aware that we’re speaking figuratively. The cloud, for all its other-worldly technological abilities, remains firmly attached to our small green planet where it stores incomprehensible amounts of data in server-filled data centres around the globe. These data centres are unfortunately restricted to anchored operation due to the law of gravitational pull. But could all this be about to change?
The ways in which technology raises eyebrows from eagerly awaiting consumers is untested. Visitors to this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in January witnessed a few jaws hitting the floor with some of the gadgets on show. Put simply, we continue to be surprised and impressed by technology and the ways in which the internet continues to change our lives.
It seems only apt that with technological advancement hurtling along at such a steady pace, cloud computing may be heading to new places in the near future, and that’s just what Lance Parker, CEO of LA startup ConnectX, has in mind. Earth to space migration has been a hot topic over the past decade starting with Apollo 11 landing on the moon way back in 1969. Since then, the exploration of the final frontier has been extensive; billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson has hope that his Virgin Galactic space tourism plans will revolutionise the ways in which we holiday. However Mars One has recently announced plans to establish human settlement on Mars, with the first planned human departures scheduled for 2024 – in less than ten years’ time!
Asking the world “why keep the cloud on the ground?”, Parker and team are working towards sending the cloud quite literally into the stratosphere. Building perhaps on the metaphorical idea of cloud computing as a method of storing data in the outer regions of the planet, ConnectX propose to send physical, operational servers into space.
So with humanity making the move out of the atmosphere, it seems logical that the cloud could expand into the great beyond.
If you put to one side the sustainability of our planetary resources, ConnectX may have the answer to some of our fears over the energy consumption of large data farms. Up until 2002, the world created five exabytes (five billion gigabytes) of information. Today, however, we’re creating that much data in just ten minutes, with global data centres sapping 10% of the world’s electricity.
Sending the servers into space is an energy-saving tactic which ConnectX hope will help to resolve the global overuse of energy as the servers would operate on free solar power, which is in plentiful supply in space. The overheating problems of earthbound data centres – along with the high cost of cooling equipment – would be eradicated by a launch, as the extreme cold of outer space would keep the servers processing at a fast pace without overheating. Companies such as Facebook have tried to keep things cool by storing data on the edge of the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia, but even the Arctic Circle is warm when compared to the temperatures of the stratosphere.
But how would the data reach us mere earthbound humans?
Perhaps these proposed outer-space server farms would serve to allow Richard Branson to stream Netflix on his holidays to the moon, but it seems that it may not be feasible for our data to reach Earth at the speeds we are accustomed to . Currently servers and their data recipients transfer information through cables – and more recently fibre optics – allowing for a data transfer date of around 100 megabits per second. Without the option to connect via such cables, these server farms would need to transmit their information via electromagnetic waves which would slow transmission down to between five and 12 megabits per second – a very real spanner in the works for ConnectX.
Rest assured that ConnectX are working on a solution to their pacing problems. The 13 ConnectX employees are working on a way to twist radio beams to speed up transmission rates, which would theoretically speed things up to 32 gigabits per second. Although they face many challenges, the first launch is pencilled in for 2017, so (literally) watch this space!