A Major Step Forward
ExoAtlas has completed a full migration to Cloudflare’s global edge network, moving all major services — including DNS, web hosting, object storage, and backend compute — into a unified environment. This shift represents a foundational improvement in how ExoAtlas serves data, scales, and secures its applications across the web.
What Changed
1. DNS + CDN
Our DNS is now managed directly by Cloudflare, giving ExoAtlas near-instant propagation for record changes, built-in DDoS protection, and intelligent caching at over 300 edge locations worldwide. Static assets like JSON datasets, images, and scripts now benefit from automatic edge caching and versioned ETag control — reducing latency for users across continents.
2. R2 Object Storage
All planetary, asteroid, and comet datasets have been migrated to Cloudflare R2.
This move:
- Eliminates egress fees when serving files through the CDN.
- Reduces load times for large hosted data objects (CSV/JSON).
- Integrates directly with Workers for seamless file delivery and caching logic.
3. Cloudflare Workers
Our API endpoints and form handlers now run on Cloudflare Workers, providing ultra-low-latency serverless compute at the network edge.
These Workers handle:
- Data routing and response caching.
- Contact form validation and secure email forwarding.
- Rate limiting and bot protection with Turnstile integration.
4. Cloudflare Pages Hosting
The public website — including /tools, /updates, and /data — is now built and deployed through Cloudflare Pages, with GitHub Actions automating builds from the main branch.
This setup:
- Delivers instant rollbacks and preview deployments for each commit.
- Simplifies branch-based testing of new features.
- Ensures the entire site is globally distributed and version-controlled.
Why Cloudflare?
Migrating to Cloudflare consolidates multiple infrastructure layers into a single, integrated platform — reducing operational complexity and improving reliability. The benefits include:
- Faster global performance through edge caching.
- Lower operational costs (zero egress, unified billing).
- Enhanced security via WAF and automatic HTTPS.
- Smarter automation using Workers KV, R2, and GitHub Actions.
What’s Next
The next phase will focus on:
- Edge-based caching rules for ephemeris and orbital datasets.
- API performance metrics surfaced directly in
/updatesposts. - Expanding the ExoAtlas CDN to include dynamically generated visualization data.
ExoAtlas is now faster, more scalable, and more efficient than ever — ready to deliver real-time astronomical data to researchers, educators, and enthusiasts across the globe.