--- title: "Florida Man Plotting to Build Web Servers on the Moon" description: "Florida-based startup Lonestar Data Holdings will be testing a data center on the Moon, which it believes could be the most secure location for data yet." date: "2023-03-09" modified: "2023-03-09" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/florida-servers-moon" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Moon" - "Space" tags: - "cloud computing" - "moon" - "the digest" - "the moon" --- # Florida Man Plotting to Build Web Servers on the Moon ![Florida-based startup Lonestar Data Holdings will be testing a data center on the Moon, which it believes could be the most secure location for data yet.]() *\Image: Jason Riley, Artificial Lens for Lonestar / Futurism\* ## Beyond the Clouds One Florida-based startup wants to redefine the limits of cloud computing so drastically as to make its name obsolete — by taking it beyond our atmosphere and placing it on the lunar surface, [*Gizmodo* reports](). In a [press release]() on Monday, Lonestar Data Holdings announced that it had secured an additional $5 million in funding as it marches ever closer to its ambitious experiment of running data centers on the Moon. "Data is the greatest currency created by the human race," said founder Chris Stott, in an earlier [press release last year](). "We are dependent upon it for nearly everything we do and it is too important to us as a species to store in Earth's ever more fragile biosphere," he added. "Earth’s largest satellite, our Moon, represents the ideal place to safely store our future." ## Launch Date Lonestar — which seems like a strange name for a venture based in Florida rather than Texas — successfully tested its experimental data center in December 2021 in microgravity conditions, or what's essentially zero gravity, aboard the International Space Station. With that under its belt, plus some extra cash to boot, Lonestar's now equipped to give the data center a shot on the real thing. But it isn't exactly shipping six foot servers — that'd be too inefficient and costly. Instead, Lonestar will try out a mere two pound data center packing a 16 terabyte capacity, Stott said in an [interview with SpaceNews]() last year — which is an ample starting point. The server will be brought aboard a [SpaceX Falcon 9]() rocket as part of the upcoming IM-2 mission from Intuitive Machines, a NASA contractor. Intuitive Machines' [IM-1 mission](), which has been repeatedly [delayed](), is set to launch for the Moon by this June. Its exact launch date, though, isn't quite set in stone, and as a result, IM-2's exact date remains yet uncertain. ## Lunar Economy Whenever it gets there, the initial data center will feed off the mission's lander for power and communications, Statt said. Assuming the experiment is successful, Lonestar hopes to have self-sufficient data centers on the Moon by 2026. "We believe that expanding the world's economy to encompass the Moon, which happens to be the Earth's most stable satellite, is the next whitespace in the New Space Economy," said Brad Harrison, founder and managing partner of the VC firm Scout Ventures which led the latest round of funding, in the latest release. "Data security and storage will be a necessary part of leading the new generation of lunar exploration," he added. **More on the Moon:** *[New Orbiter Can See Inside Moon Craters Hidden in Total Darkness]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()