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HPE supercomputer is still crunching numbers in space after 340 days
HPE's mini supercomputer launched into space last year has survived the harsh conditions of zero gravity and radiation for almost a year. The Spaceborne Computer isn't the greatest supercomputer and has a performance of one teraflop, runs on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and is built out of two HPE Apollo Intel x86 servers with a 56Gbps interconnect.
NASA wanted to see if a computer would last for a year - roughly the time it takes to reach Mars - inside the International Space Station (ISS). So, HPE offered to tuck its Spaceborne Computer aboard SpaceX's CRS-12 rocket and send it into the abyss. "It has now been in space for 340 days", said Mark Fernandez, America's HPC technology officer at HPE and co-principal of the experiment, during a panel talk at the ISS Research & Development Conference on Wednesday in San Francisco.
[...] The machine hasn't been radiation hardened, and relies on a few software tricks to stop it from corrupting, something Fernandez calls "autonomous self-care". Continuous health checks helps keep the computer in check, and when it detects any potential hardware failures, it runs at a slower pace or enters "idle mode", where it powers down.
Previously: HPE Supercomputer to be Sent to the ISS
Related: Rodent Research-9 Experiments Sent to the ISS
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 27 2018, @10:27PM (7 children)
so what, the computer's heart pumped too much blood to its brain?
the computer lost muscle tone because it didn't need to stand up?
(Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Friday July 27 2018, @10:34PM (3 children)
well without gravity, no air flow. Fluids might not move conventionally. The radiation probably flips quite a few bits every so often, but maybe they have some ECC+ to handle that.
Probably some others have a better descriptions.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 27 2018, @11:05PM
"You think you're gonna stay here for free!? Think again! Get out of here!"
Neither the mother nor her children budged even an inch in response to the landlord's shouting. This only served to further agitate the man. Why was this happening? It all started a few months ago. The tenant had always dutifully paid her rent on time. However, after a certain event, she simply stopped paying altogether. Indeed, it was that event.
All he had done was toy with them. The landlord had simply beaten, raped, and murdered the mother and her children. Now, apparently, they felt as if they could stay in the apartment and rot, free of charge. "The audacity!" the landlord screeched. Then, the man moved; it was clear that he had to take care of the problem by force.
Thus, the corpses were evicted onto the sidewalk, where they were frequently beaten and kicked by passersby in retaliation for their smelliness. In the end, however, they were able to befriend the maggots.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 28 2018, @01:28PM (1 child)
modest fan will be more than enough to create a stronger flow than convection would create on Earth (in fact that's why we put fans down here as well; or maybe some fluids moving through pipes ---- powered movement).
and my problem was with the statement about gravity, not radiation. just to make it clear: zero gravity does not imply harsh radiation, there is no relation between the two conditions. and it is only the high radiation that is actually harsh for a computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 29 2018, @01:10AM
I agree the comment about zero gravity is bogus from what I know, but fans are useless in space. With no air, they don't actually move any heat around (unless they're doing something weird) and just create more heat that has to be dissipated.
In regards to radiation, bit flips are problematic but the bigger problem of non-space rated electronics is radiation induced latch up which typically requires shutting down the entire system.
(Score: 5, Funny) by bob_super on Friday July 27 2018, @11:09PM (2 children)
The video card is located below the processor in the ATX configuration, because gravity helps the signals get there quicker, resulting in faster frame rates. Some people have recommended putting your tower next to or above your display to help the pictures refresh faster, too.
None of this work in Zero-G, and don't get me started on the mouse pad floating away, and the crumbs and coffee not landing properly in the butterfly keyboard.
(Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Friday July 27 2018, @11:13PM
i modded you funny. "because gravity helps the signals get there quicker, resulting in faster frame rates. " LOL
Found the marketing exec ;-)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 28 2018, @01:31PM
but what you're saying only works if you have gold connectors and monster cables, otherwise everything's a drag.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Snotnose on Friday July 27 2018, @10:47PM (2 children)
is that the HP engineers that did this had decades of experience, and have been laid off by now.
Torpedoes are the only pedos Republicans are willing to fire.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 28 2018, @12:11AM (1 child)
Engineers have the technical skills to build such a thing.
Managers have the leadership skills to lay off the engineers while avoiding lawsuits and showing net profit.
Executives have the organizational skills to make the engineers subordinate to the MBA.
Congress has the fiduciary skills to spend the public purse to fund the whole shebang.
Each level gets paid what the level above them thinks they are worth.
Thank goodness for "classified info"... the taxpayer would be furious if it were out in the open how many millions of dollars we spend to buy fiascos.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 28 2018, @03:56AM
I believe the algorithm works like this: while (supply_demand_intersection > $0.00/hr) import_h1bs();
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 27 2018, @11:07PM (2 children)
... but it got to 364 days then rebooted for a mandatory Win10 upgrade and BSOD'd on reboot.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 27 2018, @11:09PM (1 child)
Fake news! No Win10 installation would every go that long before rebooting, and Win10 telemetry would have overloaded the ISS data link.
(Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Saturday July 28 2018, @12:28AM
No, because it was more than 200 days old, Microsoft already stopped supporting the motherboard chipset so updates are no longer available for it.
Somewhere some space IT guy is getting bitched at as if he had been caught with his pants down for not upgrading the unit after 180 days because security, even though the upgraded version loses functionality.
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Friday July 27 2018, @11:20PM (2 children)
Congrads to all involved in this stress test. However, the objective is to run the computer during a Mars mission and the Van Allen belt will not be available to protect the machine from radiation. I wonder if there will be a next step involving a computer leaving low earth orbit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 28 2018, @12:14AM
It was a test... definitely not run anything critical... maybe mine some bitcoin?
If your test was successful, at least you have some bitcoin... go buy your engineers and assemblers some beer and chips!
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday July 28 2018, @01:11AM
It's a lot easier to shield the machine to its present level than to shield it to the level found on Earth.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 28 2018, @01:26AM
And
So, how many of the 340 days has Punxsutawney Phil seen his shadow and gone into "idle mode"?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday July 28 2018, @01:38AM
I didn't see the uptime for this machine.
Oh - xkcd https://xkcd.com/1495/ [xkcd.com]
We're gonna be able to vacation in Gaza, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and maybe Minnesota soon. Incredible times.