ISS conducted the first tests of the HPE Spaceborne supercomputer

2021: Plan to send the Spaceborne Computer-2 supercomputer to the ISS

On February 20, 2021, it was planned to launch Spaceborne Computer-2 into orbit as part of the 15th Northrop Grumman cargo spacecraft supply mission and use it on the ISS for the next 2-3 years.

Using Spaceborne Computer-2 (SBC-2), developed by HPE, astronauts and researchers aboard the International Space Station (ISS) will be able to reduce the time to analyze and obtain the results of experiments in extraterrestrial space from months to several minutes. SBC-2 will be used for a wide range of tasks: from processing medical images and determining DNA sequence (sequencing) to obtaining predictive analytical data for processing information from remote sensors and satellites. More details here.

2017: Sending Apollo Spaceborne Computer supercomputer to ISS

On August 14, 2017, the Apollo Spaceborne Computer manufactured by Hewlett Packard Enterprise was sent to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the SpaceX spacecraft. The computer system is planned to be tested in space during the year.^[1]

Supercomputer

In general, computing power in space is growing at a completely different pace than on Earth. So, if on Earth the power of supercomputers is measured in dozens and hundreds of petaflops, then Spaceborne is much more modest - the computing power reaches 1 teraflops. Nevertheless, achieving the first teraflops in space is a big step for the space industry, since Spaceborne will be followed by more powerful systems.

Mini cluster in space. Liquid cooling

The system is a bundle of two servers HPE Apollo 40 based on Intel Xeon processors Nvidia with Tesla P100 accelerators (NVLink version), combined into a network at a data rate of 56 Gb/s. The supercomputer runs a special version. OS Linux

Spaceborne Cooling and Power Systems

Project tasks

Apollo Spaceborne Computer is designed for high-performance computing and solving communication problems during flights to Mars. On the ISS, the system is designed to help record hardware and software failures in order to quickly identify station components and nodes that are more exposed to radiation.

Testing course

On September 14, 2017, power was supplied to the system (48 and 110 volts), and then the first High Performance Linpack tests were carried out.

The equipment includes a number of fuses that, when triggered, reduce the processor clock speed, or stop the operating system. Such measures, in turn, save energy and reduce the likelihood of damage.

Spaceborne is not yet planned to be used for the analysis of scientific data or the management of any station systems. Its mission as a whole is to demonstrate how alive conventional servers are in space. The results of the permanent tests will be compared with a similar system left on Earth.

Notes