Jane Edwards
Clint Crosier, director of aerospace and satellite solutions at Amazon Web Services, said AWS is introducing cloud computing tools and other technologies to meet the space industry’s need for data processing capabilities, SiliconANGLE Media reported Wednesday.
“Decision-makers need to make real-time decisions,” Crosier, a retired U.S. Air Force major general, told the publication in an interview.
“We are inundated with data, and often space companies will tell you they can’t use all of the data they are collecting because they don’t have the right tools. That’s the gap that AWS is filling in the space industry,” he added.
One of the tools deployed in orbit is the AWS Snowcone edge computing and storage device, which Crosier said helped shorten data processing and transfer activities from hours to about 20 minutes.
He noted that AWS is working with satellite companies like Maxar Technologies to come up with numerical weather predictions using high-performance computing platform that includes Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, Elastic Fabric Adapter, Amazon FSx for Lustre and AWS ParallelCluster.
“A 58% increase in the ability to predict when a hurricane has moved due to wind shift can mean an extra hour of notice,” Crosier said.
“They are doing near real-time analysis of rainfall, and it’s impacting where crops and food supplies are thriving and suffering. All of these things are helping save lives on the continent of Africa. We call that making the world a better place from space,” he added.
