Edge Computing DNA Sequencing on ISS
Key Points
- Edge computing relocates compute and storage to where data is generated, slashing latency and the need to transmit large data volumes.
- The International Space Station (ISS) orbits at about 250 mi in low Earth orbit, using a constellation of geostationary satellites to relay data to ground‑based data centers.
- Astronauts perform on‑board DNA sequencing for health monitoring, producing raw datasets of several hundred gigabytes that were previously downlinked to Earth for processing.
- IBM, in partnership with HPE, deployed IBM Cloud‑based, open‑source container workloads on NASA’s SBC2 (Spaceborne Compute) systems via Red Hat OpenShift CRC, handling base‑calling, demultiplexing, alignment, analysis, and report generation directly on the ISS.
- This edge‑computing approach cuts the end‑to‑end workflow to 6‑8 hours and reduces the final output to under 1 MB, eliminating the need to downlink massive raw data files.
Full Transcript
# Edge Computing DNA Sequencing on ISS **Source:** [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5InwlTrl4aY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5InwlTrl4aY) **Duration:** 00:04:29 ## Summary - Edge computing relocates compute and storage to where data is generated, slashing latency and the need to transmit large data volumes. - The International Space Station (ISS) orbits at about 250 mi in low Earth orbit, using a constellation of geostationary satellites to relay data to ground‑based data centers. - Astronauts perform on‑board DNA sequencing for health monitoring, producing raw datasets of several hundred gigabytes that were previously downlinked to Earth for processing. - IBM, in partnership with HPE, deployed IBM Cloud‑based, open‑source container workloads on NASA’s SBC2 (Spaceborne Compute) systems via Red Hat OpenShift CRC, handling base‑calling, demultiplexing, alignment, analysis, and report generation directly on the ISS. - This edge‑computing approach cuts the end‑to‑end workflow to 6‑8 hours and reduces the final output to under 1 MB, eliminating the need to downlink massive raw data files. ## Sections - [00:00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5InwlTrl4aY&t=0s) **Edge Computing for ISS DNA Sequencing** - The speaker explains how edge computing places processing and storage on the International Space Station to analyze DNA sequencing data locally, cutting latency and minimizing data transfer to Earth. ## Full Transcript
hello today we will be talking about the
edge computing
in space on the international space
station for the dna sequencing
my name is naim i'm ibm's cto for space
tech
let's talk about edge computing what is
such computing ash computing is about
taking
the compute and storage where the data
is being produced
so we can reduce the latency and reduce
the movement of data
from point a to point b let's first talk
about the international space station
international space station is above
earth in the leo
which is called the lower earth orbit
around 250 miles
above it travels around 17
500 miles per hour and it can circle
every 90 minutes
the way it communicates there are
satellites in the geostationary orbit
it's a constellation of these satellites
from where it relays information
back to the ground stations on the earth
and the data goes into data centers
that's all the mechanism of how the
uplink and downlink works
now let's talk about the dna sequencing
so what is the dna
dna serves as a blueprint for an
organism
dna sequencing is about finding the
characteristics of this organism
it can be very beneficial for monitoring
the astronauts health
or looking for infectious disease on the
space station
the way to date works the astronauts on
the space station
they are scheduled to take a sample from
the surface
and run through this portable dna
sequencer device
it's a physical device which is attached
to a laptop
once the run is done it generates raw
data
which can be several hundred gigabytes
today this data comes down via the
satellites on the ground for processing
and this whole process takes some time
in our collaboration
with hpe who sent their
sbc2 systems space point community
systems in our partnership with them
we determined that we can do the
processing of all of this raw data
which is being produced instead of
bringing that information
down to the earth we can just do all the
processing
we utilized ibm cloud
and we built the open source code using
running it on the red hat
crc which is code ready container
openshift platform
basically it's a set of container
containers code which we built
this code was pushed to nasa and then
nasa pushed this code
up to the space station onto the spc2
computers
now this solution has several steps
because it's a sequential process it has
to go and process all this information
so the first thing the containers when
they come up on the crc platform
they go through a step called base
calling
then the next step is demultiplexing
the third step is the alignment
the fourth step is the analysis
and the last step is actually generating
the report
this whole process can take up to six to
eight hours
and at the end of the day it generates a
file which is less than
one one megabyte so as you can see
is in this edge computing use case where
we were initially
moving hundreds of gigs of data back to
the ground
and processing and taking time in this
case
literally in a day within six to eight
hours we can create the file
the file is less than one meg and we can
send down to the earth
that's the resulting file which the
scientists are looking for
and thus reducing the time latency
preserving the bandwidth which is very
critical at the space station
communications between
because there are many projects
happening so as we said this is an
extreme uh
use case for the edge computing now
think about this as we are moving
forward
going back to the moon as part of rtms
program mars and beyond
if we use this edge computing mechanisms
point devices
as we are heading towards the deeper
space we might be able to detect
possibly
life beyond earth thank you