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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 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.