In collaboration with Lonestar Data Holdings, BIG designed a 3D-printed data center that launched into space on a NASA space mission on February 26th, 2025 – marking the first data center designed specifically to store data on the Moon.

Traditional data centers account for about 1% of global electricity consumption and up to 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Entirely solar powered, this lunar data center signifies the initial step in space becoming a recognized home for data management – relieving the Earth of the environmental burdens associated with the growing demands of the digital age.

The Freedom Data Center, measuring 26 x 17 cm, is designed to feature the profiles of two U.S. astronauts – Charlie Duke and Nicole Stott – whose faces will cast changing shadows on the Moon throughout the day.

Traveling to space on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, the Freedom Data Center will arrive on the Moon via Intuitive Machines’ Athena IM-2 Lunar Lander. The prototype can store up to 8 terabytes of data, carrying government data, artwork, historical records, and cultural artifacts. It is set to land on the Moon’s largely unexplored south pole.

The space mission will last one Moon day, the equivalent to 14 Earth days. The data center will rely on solar energy during the lunar day and will cease operation at lunar nightfall, while the profiles of Duke and Stott continue to leave an everlasting shadow on the surface of the Moon.