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Astroscale

Cloud Bridge
Cloud Bridge
SUCCESS STORY

Astroscale's Seamless Migration to AWS for Space Debris Mitigation

Astroscale develop on-orbit solutions with the goal of mitigating the growing and hazardous build-up of debris in space. Their solutions include life extension, in-situ space situational awareness, end of life service, and active debris removal.

The challenge 

Astroscale engaged Cloud Bridge to migrate their ELSA-d Mission Control Centre to Amazon Web Services (AWS). The migration involved moving both Windows and Linux systems, including regulated software.

The migration had to be completed with zero changes, meaning none of the system images or network addressing could change. Cloud Bridge used AWS Application Migration Service and AWS Import/Export to complete the migration. The solution was deployed and managed using Terraform, and the teams collaborated using AWS CodeCommit.

The main challenge of this migration was the complexity of Astroscale's existing infrastructure, including the regulated software. The migration had to be completed with zero changes, meaning none of the system images or network addressing could change. Additionally, there was a complex networking requirement where double NAT and overlapping address space had to be managed during the testing phases.

The solution

The solution was deployed and managed using Terraform, and the teams collaborated using AWS CodeCommit.

Once in the new environment, Cloud Bridge used Terraform to deploy and manage the infrastructure. They collaborated with Astroscale using AWS CodeCommit for version control and collaboration.

Cloud Bridge leveraged AWS Control Tower for governance and compliance, Amazon EC2 for compute resources, Transit Gateway (TGW) for connecting VPCs and on-premises networks, and AWS Backup for data protection. Additionally, they utilized the Fortinet Marketplace network overlay to provide secure connectivity and next-generation firewall features.

During the testing phases, Cloud Bridge implemented split telemetry to the origin and AWS and leveraged the Fortinet overlay to NAT and overlapping address space requirements only during testing.

The benefits

The migration to AWS using these services provided several benefits for Astroscale:​

  • Scalability and flexibility: The new environment is scalable and flexible, allowing Astroscale to add or remove resources as needed.

  • Improved security and compliance: AWS Control Tower and Fortinet Marketplace provided enhanced security and compliance features.

  • Reduced downtime and improved performance: The migration was completed with minimal downtime, and the new environment has improved performance.

  • Cost savings: The new environment is more cost-effective than the previous on-premise infrastructure.

Overall, the migration to AWS using these services and managed with Terraform and collaboration with AWS CodeCommit has allowed Astroscale to operate their mission-critical systems more efficiently and effectively than ever before, even with the challenge of a zero change migration for regulated software.

"We achieved a 360° view of costs and migration timescales to move to AWS. The OLA engagement really supported us to do this, and the fact Cloud Bridge did all the heavy lifting was a great benefit.’’

​Paul Healy, Senior Technical Project Manager, Astroscale

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