SpaceBilt Inc. announced it has partnered with Phison to fly the Large in Space Server (LiSS), the world?s first 100 terabyte plus data storage and edge compute center to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2025. The LiSS will be flight qualified on the Japanese Kibo External Facility on the SpaceBD iSEEP platform to ensure its readiness to withstand the space environment. SpaceBilt and partner Novium will provide demonstrations of a mockup space station at the Space Symposium from April 8 - 11, 2024 in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The LiSS project will qualify for the NASA Technology Readiness Level 8 (TRL-8), which is ready for commercialization. The LiSS server system is powered by a Microchip Polarfire System on a Chip (SoC) along with an NVIDIA Jetson Orin artificial intelligence computer for rapid access to a string of X1 enterprise level PCIe-based solid state drives (SSDs) provided by Phison, a leading provider of NAND controllers and storage. During this flight qualification of the X1 platform, SpaceBilt will monitor the radiation environment by leveraging the flight proven ARMAS radiation sensor provided by Los Angeles-based Space Environmental Technologies.

Phison is supplying the technical expertise to enable SpaceBilt to access engineering data associated with the performance of the X1 SSD drives in the radiation and vacuum environment of space. This six-month test will yield invaluable qualitative data on the performance of SSD drives in the space environment?a critical aspect that remains largely unexplored for these advanced SSDs. The findings from this study are pivotal for numerous companies aiming to pioneer edge computing and storage technologies in space, shedding light on a key frontier in their endeavors.