Sierra Space and IBM have announced the signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to develop the next generation of space technology and software platforms across Sierra Space’s range of space vehicles and infrastructure.

The MOU outlines the companies’ plans to integrate IBM’s technology to coordinate the tasks and workload of Sierra Space astronauts through the company’s  data analysis and collection technology. In addition, IBM plans to support Sierra Space through its journey of building a seamless technology platform in space, which both envision as a first-of-its-kind, comprehensive platform to effectively service the cloud in space and drive mission operations – all while supporting development of new applications for commerce, research, tourism and more.

“Sierra Space is leading the design, development and operations for the future of commercial space and infrastructure,” said Sierra Space CEO Tom Vice. “Through this planned agreement with IBM, we will leverage the full depth of its industry expertise and innovative technology portfolio to evaluate and support unique in-space challenges we will face as we build the future of commercial space. Effective Hybrid Space Platforms will allow us to derive previously untapped value from the growing quantities of data generated in space. Together, we will leverage secured AI to drive new capability for Sierra Space, IBM, the broader orbital ecosystem, and the new space economy.”

“IBM is committed to re-invigorating approaches to science and innovation to meet today’s biggest challenges. Collaborating with a leader like Sierra Space will support the growth of a more robust space economy in low-Earth orbit and beyond,” added Naeem Altaf, CTO IBM Space. “There is unlimited potential for humanity’s future in space. We see Sierra Space as a core leader and collaborator in advancing that vision. In this envisioned – but secured – environment, collaborators and partners will be able to innovate, co-create and co-operate together at scale in a way that drives mutual benefit for the space industry as a whole. As we progress, IBM looks forward to working with Sierra Space across a range of initiatives to accelerate new and innovative possibilities for LEO and the new space economy.”

IBM’s technology platform would facilitate Sierra Space’s efforts for automating business operations to achieve better performance, automate IT operations to deliver actionable insights, automate application and data flows to improve client experiences, automate networks to deliver zero-touch operations, and generate deeper insights into threats, orchestration actions and automate responses.

The proposed joint work 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 vendors) for flexible, secured, and open operations. The companies are discussing development and deployment of these abilities terrestrially and/or in space, in addition to offering support for ongoing operations and management of Sierra Space’s technologies.

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