Space agency NASA will look to upgrade its processing capacity to introduce a supercomputer capable of 1,000 trillion calculations per second.
The Columbia Supercomputer at NASA\'s Advanced Supercomputing Facility at Ames Research Center. Credit: NASA
The processing project, in collaboration with Intel and SGI, known as “Pleiades,” which is measured in petaflops, will have its capacity boosted to 10 petaflops by the year 2012, to assist it with modelling and project simulation.
The supercomputer will be installed at Nasa's Ames Research Centre at Moffet Field, California and will supersede the existing computer which is capable of a relatively pedestrian 88.88 teraflops.
The fastest computer currently on Earth is the BlueGene/L which has a top speed of 478.2 teraflops, however next generation petaflop computers are expected to make their appearance when a list of the relative performance of the world's computers -- known as the Top 500 -- is next released in June.
“Achieving such a monumental increase in performance will help fulfill NASA’s increasing need for additional computing capacity and will enable us to provide the computational performance and capacity needed for future missions,” said Ames Director S. Pete Worden in a statement. “This additional computational performance is necessary to help us achieve breakthrough scientific discoveries.”
“Throughout its history, NASA has sought to explore the most compelling questions about mankind, Earth, and the worlds that await our discovery,” said Robert “Bo” Ewald, chief executive officer of SGI.
“SGI is proud to be part of this effort. These groundbreaking new systems powered by SGI and fueled by the latest multi-core Intel processors, offer a platform for new discoveries that will help us all achieve the most promising future for the human race. This effort is important to everyone on this planet,” he said.
More information on NASA's supercomputer project is available here.
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