Cloud Computing And NASA

Investments in space technology have produced many spinoff inventions that we now take for granted in everyday modern life. Advances in comfort, such as memory foam and shoe insoles, and life-saving technologies, such as smoke detectors and safety grooving in roads and runways, were all inspired by NASA research.

The popular open source Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) platform OpenStack also originated from a NASA program. At the Ames Research Center in 2009, NASA established its own private cloud computing environment – and became the first federal program to do so. NASA then teamed up with Rackspace and together they released OpenStack in 2010.

In April 2011, Chris Kemp left his job as Chief Technical Officer of NASA to found his own startup, Nebula. Kemp’s experience as one of the architects of the OpenStack project intrigued many investors. In September 2012, as part of a round of investments led by Comcast Ventures, Nebula raised over $25 million in capital.