NASA uses the Aitken supercomputer to simulate astronauts' future flight and moon landing. The computer is developed by Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). The flight and landing of people on the lunar surface is planned to be carried out within the framework of the third stage of the Artemis mission. What is this supercomputer and how is it used?
Supercomputer features
The supercomputer launched in 2019. It is located at the Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley. Aitken has a modular design. The computer is very powerful, fast and energy efficient.
HPE noted that in its first year of operation, Aitken saved 84% of the energy required for cooling compared to systems of similar performance. This is 1.4 million kilowatt-hours and $ 100 thousand saved in the users' "wallet". Supercomputer
characteristics :
- 3.69 petaflops;
- 4 E-Cells, 1152 computing nodes;
- 46,080 computing cores;
- 216 TB of RAM;
- HPCG rating 45.47 teraflop / s.
HPE and NASA are constantly improving the supercomputer. The system is now being expanded with eight new racks, including 1024 compute nodes, with AMD 7742 EPYC "Rome" processors. This will allow the computer to perform calculations and other NASA tasks even faster.
computer is physically placed in the first computer block of the Modular Supercomputing Facility. Aitken occupies only one block, although the total area of the center is 1 acre. Additional modules can be created if necessary.
How and when do the Americans plan to land on the moon?
Photo: vokrugsveta.ua
In March 2020, on behalf of the American president, NASA began to work on organizing a flight to the moon. This is how the Artemis program appeared. Experts from Europe, Japan and Canada take part in it.
At the moment, we know about the three main stages of the "Artemis" program:
- Artemis 1 : 2021-2022. The launch of an unmanned capsule is planned. The device will stay 25 days in the orbit of the Moon.
- Artemis 2 : 2023. Organization of the first manned flight around the Moon.
- Artemis 3 : 2024. The final stage, which includes the landing of a crew of two on the lunar surface in the South Pole region.
NASA's Artemis / NASA Lunar Program
The most important stage is the third. In case of its successful implementation, the cosmonauts will stay on the moon for 6.5 days. This is twice the duration of the Apollo mission. In the future, after 2028, they can build a base on the Moon and begin research, as well as searches for minerals.
Why was the supercomputer involved in Artemis?
The launch of the spacecraft as part of Artemis 3 is to be carried out from the Kennedy Space Center . Scientists from NASA, with the help of Aitken, want to understand what will happen at launch, as well as predict the risks associated with the separation of accelerators from the launch vehicle.
