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Lonestar ramps up with new satellite and mission
“This time it’s a five-year mission to orbit the Earth.”
Lonestar Data Holdings, Inc., a startup based in St. Petersburg’s Innovation District, is continuing its push to store data beyond Earth. This time, the company is moving forward with a new partner, a new satellite, and a mission that signals a shift from experimentation to sustained operations.
Sidus Space is the new contractor for Lonestar Lunar Holdings. The Cape Canaveral-based company is building “Lissie Sat,” a 3D-printed satellite that will carry Lonestar’s next payload into orbit. CEO and founder Christopher Stott described the system in simple terms. It is “like FedEx up into space,” he said.
If successful, the mission will further prove the viability of Lonestar’s concept.
In February 2024, Lonestar sent a software-defined data center to the moon. Despite one of the lunar lander’s legs breaking against a moon rock and partially toppling it onto its side, Lonestar transmitted the Declaration of Independence to the data center, the first document to ever be stored off the planet.
To date, Lonestar has completed four test flights. Two missions traveled to the moon and two to the International Space Station. Each step has corroborated the company’s claims that securing data away from terrestrial risks is possible and reliable.
You may be wondering why someone would go to such lengths to store data away from Earth.
Stott often invokes the Library of Alexandria when discussing his project. The library, once the ancient world’s epicenter of knowledge, suffered numerous disasters, the most catastrophic being the burning by Julius Caesar’s troops over 2,000 years ago. “Our job is to protect data, not inside the burning building, but outside the burning building,” said Stott in an earlier interview.
While the burning of the Library of Alexandria may seem ancient and unrepeatable, modern analogs are more immediate. In 2017, a Russia-linked hacker group crippled Ukraine with NotPetya malware, a cyberattack that spread globally and caused billions in damages across industries. Since then, governments and private companies have increased their focus on disaster recovery and resiliency.
“We have very happy customers,” said Stott.
Market demand, according to Stott, is pushing to get stored data in orbit sooner and faster. That demand is shaping the company’s next phase. Lonestar is now prioritizing low Earth orbit missions, while continuing its longer-term lunar ambitions.
“Putting things in low Earth orbit is safer than the ground, but lunar orbit is safest,” said Stott.
The company’s next launch is scheduled for October. The payload will carry 488 terabytes of data, a significant increase from the eight terabytes used in its previous mission. The system is designed to remain in orbit for five years.
“This time it’s a five-year mission to orbit the Earth,” added Stott.
The payload will again include a mix of data. Coursing through its circuitry will be a range of material, from client information to cultural artifacts. Previous missions included video games and music, and while details remain limited, similar headline-grabbing data is expected to be part of the payload.
The expansion is not limited to technology. Lonestar and Lonestar Lunar Holdings completed another seed plus funding round, garnering an additional $6.5 million last November. The funding supports continued development and future launches.
Moving forward, Stott said he wants more of the same with Sidus – a regular pipeline of satellite builds and a steady cadence of missions to meet growing demand.
Back in St. Pete, operations continue inside the Maritime Defense and Technology Hub. Mission Control, once set up in a mailroom, remains a reminder of the company’s origins. From that room, engineers monitor payload telemetry and maintain a constant link between Earth and orbit.
