Louisville, Colorado. and Armonk, NY –(Business Wire)–Sierra Space is a leading commercial space company, a leader in creating and building the future of low-Earth orbit (LEO) commercial space transportation and infrastructure, and IBM (NYSE: IBM) is a aerospace company Technology leader in industry. Going back to the earliest days of the U.S. space program, today announced the signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Sierra Space and IBM plan to work together to develop next-generation space technology and software platforms within Sierra Space’s spacecraft and infrastructure.
The memorandum of understanding outlines the two companies’ plans to integrate IBM technology to coordinate the missions and workloads of Sierra Space astronauts through the companies’ data analysis and collection technologies. In addition, IBM plans to support Sierra Space through its journey to build a seamless technology platform in space, each envisioned as a first-of-its-kind comprehensive platform that can efficiently serve the space cloud and drive mission operations—while supporting commercial, research , tourism and other fields of new application development.
“Sierra Space is leading the way in the design, development and operation of the future of commercial space and infrastructure,” said Tom Vice, CEO of Sierra Space. “Through this planned agreement with IBM, we will leverage its industry expertise and innovative technology portfolio to assess and support the unique space challenges we will face as we build the future of commercial space. An effective hybrid space platform will allow us to To be able to derive previously untapped value from the growing amount of data in space. Together, we will leverage safe AI to deliver new capabilities to Sierra Space, IBM, the wider orbital ecosystem and the new space economy.”
“IBM is committed to reinvigorating science and innovative approaches to meet today’s greatest challenges. Partnering with leaders such as Sierra Space will support the development of more robust technologies in low Earth orbit and beyond,” added Naeem Altaf, CTO of IBM Space. The space economy. “The future of humanity in space has limitless potential. We see Sierra Space as a core leader and collaborator in advancing this vision. In this envisaged but safe environment, collaborators and partners will be able to innovate, co-create and collaborate at scale in ways that drive mutual benefit across the aerospace industry. As we progress, IBM looks forward to partnering with Sierra Space on a range of initiatives to accelerate new innovative possibilities for LEO and the new space economy. ”
IBM’s technology platform will help Sierra Space automate business operations for better performance, automate IT operations to deliver actionable insights, automate applications and data flows to improve customer experience, automate networks to deliver zero-touch operations , and generate deeper insights into threats, orchestrate actions, and automate responses.
The proposed joint effort is also expected to drive a single, unified and flexible distributed computing environment where users can easily build and modernize applications, make data AI-ready, and integrate and orchestrate workloads (across multiple environments and provisioning Provider) for flexible, secure, and open operation. In addition to supporting the ongoing operations and management of Sierra Space technologies, the two companies are discussing developing and deploying these capabilities on land and/or in space.
Statements regarding IBM’s future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice and represent goals and objectives only.
About Sierra Space
Sierra Space (www.sierraspace.com) is a leading commercial aerospace company at the forefront of innovation and space commercialization for the new orbital era. Sierra Space is building space platforms to benefit life on Earth. The company is in the late stages of doubling its workforce, with numerous locations in Colorado, Florida and Wisconsin. Significant investors in Sierra Space include General Atlantic, Coatue and Moore Strategic Ventures.
With a history of more than 30 years and 500 space missions, Sierra Space is enabling the future of space transportation with Dream Chaser®, the world’s only winged commercial space plane.Under construction at its Colorado headquarters, it is expected to launch in 2023 on Dream Chaser, the first in a series of NASA missions to the International Space Station® Cargo – and ultimately crew – can be safely transported to on-orbit destinations and returned for landing on globally compatible commercial airport runways. The company also plans to build a manned spaceflight center and an astronaut training academy at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Sierra Space is also building a series of space destinations for low Earth orbit (LEO) commercialization, including the LIFE™ (Large Integrated Flexible Environment) Habitat at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a three-story commercial residence and science Platform for LEO. Both Dream Chaser and LIFE are core components of Orbital Reef, a LEO mixed-use business park developed by key partners Sierra Space and Blue Origin, expected to be operational in 2027.
About IBM
IBM is the world’s leading provider of hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence and consulting services, helping clients in more than 175 countries leverage data insights, simplify business processes, reduce costs and gain industry competitive advantage. Nearly 3,800 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure sectors such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to rapidly, efficiently and securely implement digital transformation. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services provide our clients with open and flexible options. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, accountability, inclusion and service. For more information, visit www.ibm.com.