Amazon used AWS on a satellite in orbit to speed up data analysis in 'first-of-its kind' experiment

Amazon's unreality computing part successfully ran a bundle suite connected a outer successful orbit, successful a "first-of-its-kind" experiment, the institution announced Tuesday.

AWS, oregon Amazon Web Services, conducted the prototype outer bundle objection done partnerships with Italian institution D-Orbit and Swedish task Unibap. The experimentation was conducted implicit the past 10 months successful debased Earth orbit, utilizing a D-Orbit outer arsenic the trial platform.

The occurrence of the AWS demo has implications crossed the abstraction industry, arsenic spacecraft – meaning thing from abstraction stations to satellites – look a bottleneck successful some information retention and communications portion successful orbit.

A "downlink," the process of transferring information from orbit, requires a spacecraft link to a crushed station, with limitations specified arsenic the velocity of the connection, oregon the clip model successful which the spacecraft is supra the crushed station.

AWS' bundle automatically reviewed images to determine which were the astir utile to nonstop to the ground. It besides reduced the size of images by up to 42%.

"We demonstrated the capableness to summation the [satellite's] productivity," AWS vice president Max Peterson told CNBC.

Peterson added that the experimentation besides showed that AWS tin assistance companies execute "insight operations connected the satellite, alternatively of having to hold until you tin downlink backmost to Earth."

"We tin bid models to admit practically thing ... [giving] the quality to some amended the utilization of a truly costly plus successful space, and beryllium capable to instrumentality immense amounts of information and get insights and construe it into enactment faster," Peterson said.

AWS has steadily built retired its Aerospace and Satellite Solutions portion since its constitution successful 2020, with the institution providing unreality services to a assortment of customers and partners crossed the abstraction sector.