Lonestar Data Holdings, Inc., a startup based in St. Petersburg\u2019s Innovation District, is continuing its push to store data beyond Earth. This time, the company is moving forward with a new partner, a new satellite, and a mission that signals a shift from experimentation to sustained operations.<\/p>\n
Sidus Space is the new contractor for Lonestar Lunar Holdings. The Cape Canaveral-based company is building \u201cLissie Sat,\u201d a 3D-printed satellite that will carry Lonestar\u2019s next payload into orbit. CEO and founder Christopher Stott described the system in simple terms. It is \u201clike FedEx up into space,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
If successful, the mission will further prove the viability of Lonestar\u2019s concept.<\/p>\n
In February 2024, Lonestar sent a software-defined data center to the moon. Despite one of the lunar lander\u2019s legs breaking against a moon rock and partially toppling it onto its side, Lonestar transmitted the Declaration of Independence to the data center, the first document to ever be stored off the planet.<\/p>\n
To date, Lonestar has completed four test flights. Two missions traveled to the moon and two to the International Space Station. Each step has corroborated the company\u2019s claims that securing data away from terrestrial risks is possible and reliable.<\/p>\n
You may be wondering why someone would go to such lengths to store data away from Earth.<\/p>\n
Stott often invokes the Library of Alexandria when discussing his project. The library, once the ancient world\u2019s epicenter of knowledge, suffered numerous disasters, the most catastrophic being the burning by Julius Caesar\u2019s troops over 2,000 years ago. \u201cOur job is to protect data, not inside the burning building, but outside the burning building,\u201d said Stott in an earlier interview.<\/p>\n
While the burning of the Library of Alexandria may seem ancient and unrepeatable, modern analogs are more immediate. In 2017, a Russia-linked hacker group crippled Ukraine with NotPetya malware, a cyberattack that spread globally and caused billions in damages across industries. Since then, governments and private companies have increased their focus on disaster recovery and resiliency.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have very happy customers,\u201d said Stott.<\/p>\n
Market demand, according to Stott, is pushing to get stored data in orbit sooner and faster. That demand is shaping the company\u2019s next phase. Lonestar is now prioritizing low Earth orbit missions, while continuing its longer-term lunar ambitions.<\/p>\n
\u201cPutting things in low Earth orbit is safer than the ground, but lunar orbit is safest,\u201d said Stott.<\/p>\n
The company\u2019s next launch is scheduled for October. The payload will carry 488 terabytes of data, a significant increase from the eight terabytes used in its previous mission. The system is designed to remain in orbit for five years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis time it\u2019s a five-year mission to orbit the Earth,\u201d added Stott.<\/p>\n
The payload will again include a mix of data. Coursing through its circuitry will be a range of material, from client information to cultural artifacts. Previous missions included video games and music, and while details remain limited, similar headline-grabbing data is expected to be part of the payload.<\/p>\n
The expansion is not limited to technology. Lonestar and Lonestar Lunar Holdings completed another seed plus funding round, garnering an additional $6.5 million last November. The funding supports continued development and future launches.<\/p>\n
Moving forward, Stott said he wants more of the same with Sidus \u2013 a regular pipeline of satellite builds and a steady cadence of missions to meet growing demand.<\/p>\n
Back in St. Pete, operations continue inside the Maritime Defense and Technology Hub. Mission Control, once set up in a mailroom, remains a reminder of the company\u2019s origins. From that room, engineers monitor payload telemetry and maintain a constant link between Earth and orbit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lonestar Data Holdings, Inc., a startup based in St. Petersburg\u2019s Innovation District, is continuing its push to store…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-259529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}