HPE’s Spaceborne Computer 4 is headed to the Moon on Astrolab’s FLIP rover

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is working with NASA and Astrolab to send its Spaceborne Computer 4 to the Moon aboard the Flex Lunar Innovation Platform (FLIP) rover. The system is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program and is planned to travel to the lunar south pole on a year-long mission.

The rover is expected to reach the Moon on Voyager Technologies’ Griffin-1 lander. The mission is set to launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. On the Moon, Spaceborne Computer 4 will handle artificial intelligence and high-performance computing tasks to support the rover. HPE’s exact hardware specifications remain undisclosed.

The computer will provide local edge computing, allowing data collected by FLIP to be processed on the Moon. Astrolab CEO Jaret Matthews told The Register that sending insights to Earth instead of all raw data can save bandwidth. The source says the computer uses a low-power CPU and 1TB of mirrored storage across two Kiovia SSDs. It measures 5 x 10 inches and is around 1 inch deep.

Spaceborne Computer 4 is the latest generation in HPE’s orbital computing program. The first system joined the International Space Station in 2017. Its predecessor, Spaceborne Computer 3, launched for the ISS on January 30, 2024, with 130TB of storage. HPE’s specifications for the fourth-generation system are under wraps, with the source attributing this to concerns about hardware failure.