News & Features 2021
What Computers Do NASA, SpaceX And Blue Origin Use?
This look at the technology used in space exploration features NASA’s Pleiades supercomputer—along with the compute environment at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) facility—and provides some history describing the NAS Division’s leadership in high-performance computing.
2021 in Review: Highlights from NASA in Silicon Valley
The NAS Division’s amazing modeling and simulation projects impacting the validation of new exoplanets, safety of launch abort systems for Artemis, and the design of urban air taxis—all enabled by our supercomputers and expertise—are among 13 key efforts highlighted in NASA’s Ames 2021 review.
NASA Winter Modeling Experiments Push the Boundaries of Simulation to Explore the Earth
NASA High-End Computing resources, including NAS’s Pleiades and Aitken supercomputers, hosted global storm- and eddy-resolving simulations for Phase II of the international DYAMOND Initiative: DYnamics of the Atmospheric general circulation Modeled On Non-hydrostatic Domains.
Putting a Bow on it: The NAS Division Wraps Up the Year
with SC21
To wrap up the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division’s valuable contributions to agency programs, here are 18 research projects led by NAS Division staff and featured at SC21, the International Conference for High-Performance Computing, Networking, Storage, and Analysis—plus, some extra free goodies you can unwrap year-round!
NASA Supercomputers Crunch Safety Procedures for Future Moon Landing
In order to meet NASA's goals of landing the next humans on the moon by 2024 using the Space Launch System and Orion crew module, the agency is leveraging the power of their supercomputers and the in-house Launch Ascent and Vehicle Aerodynamics software to simulate Orion's unique launch abort system, which will carry astronauts to safety in the event of an emergency during launch.
Read more about how NASA uses supercomputers to help ensure safe missions to the moon
Scientists Use NASA Data to Predict Corona of Dec. 4 Antarctic Eclipse
A week in advance, researchers from Predictive Science, Inc. used data from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory to predict what the Antarctic eclipse would look like from the ground, utilizing the computing power of the Pleiades supercomputer at NASA’s Advanced Supercomputing Division.
Read more about the December 4th eclipse prediction simulations
Realistic Ocean Simulation Now Coupled with Atmospheric Model
Show and Tell: Research scientist Dimitris Menemenlis teamed up with NAS visualization experts to create new, highly realistic animations from a global ocean-atmosphere model, giving an unprecedented view of the interactions between Earth’s climate and weather. In this short video presentation based on his NASA@SC21 project, Menemenlis says his team is "blown away" by the complexity and beauty revealed in their simulations run on the Pleiades and Aitken supercomputers at NAS.
New Deep Learning Method Adds 301 Planets to Kepler’s Total Count
By using a new deep neural network called ExoMiner and NASA’s Pleiades supercomputer, NAS researcher Jon Jenkins and his colleagues recently added a whopping 301 newly validated exoplanets to the total exoplanet tally. ExoMiner can distinguish real exoplanets from different types of imposters, or "false positives," in data gathered by NASA’s Kepler space telescope.
Read more about the ExoMiner deep neural network run on the Pleiades supercomputer.
NASA Supercomputers Predict How Vibrations Vary With Altitude for Orion Abort Scenarios
As part of the Artemis missions, NASA’s Orion spacecraft will carry the first woman and first person of color to the Moon and return them safely back to Earth. NAS Division researchers are using their LAVA software to simulate Orion’s launch abort system, to predict how different abort scenarios will affect vibrations generated by exhaust plume pressure waves.
NASA’s Newest Supercomputer Gets a Power Boost
NASA’s Aitken supercomputer is being expanded with 512 new nodes that bring its theoretical peak performance to 10.76 petaflops—a 28% increase in performance, which translates to solving larger problems with faster results for important NASA research in aeronautics, human and robotic space missions, Earth science, and more.
NASA@SC21 Virtual Exhibit
The NASA@SC21 virtual exhibit highlights 39 projects from across the agency and academia, all of which utilized the computing, storage, networking, and/or visualization services from the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division at Ames Research Center and the NASA Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS) at Goddard Space Flight Center.
6 Things to Know About Supercomputing at NASA
From exploring the solar system and outer space to improving life here on Earth, supercomputing is vital to NASA missions. The agency is showcasing how these powerful machines are enabling science and engineering advances during SC21, the International Conference on High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage, and Analysis.
Get more info on 6 things you need to know about supercomputing at NASA.
NASA Lands in Oakland at Chabot Space and Science Center
The NASA Experience, which opened November 12 at Chabot Space and Science Center, serves as a new visitor center for NASA’s Ames Research Center, and provides a dynamic and interactive space for the public to learn more about local contributions to space exploration across the years—including supercomputing!
NASA, Supercomputing, and the Artemis Moon Mission
NASA supercomputers are helping the agency prepare for Artemis, the program that will return humans to the Moon. Learn more in this SC21 TV interview with NAS Division research scientists Jordan Angel, Derek Dalle and Francois Cadieux. SC21 host Rich Finlinson gets answers about how our experts are supporting the launch environment, flight readiness, and lift-off scenarios.
Visualization of the NASA Kennedy Launch Complex
Utilizing their in-house developed Launch Ascent and Vehicle Aerodynamics (LAVA) flow solver, our CFD experts are helping redesign and predict conditions at Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39B. Take a look at the spectacular video of the launch complex&mdash simulation in the NAS Scientific Visualization Gallery.
Yale Astronomer Leads Team in the Study of an Ultra-Hot Jupiter
Using NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), an international team of researchers has discovered an alien world nearly two times larger than Jupiter. TESS observations are processed by the Science Processing Operations Center (SPOC), which generates calibrated pixels and light curves on the Pleiades supercomputer at the NAS facility.
Learn more about the discovery of the new hot Jupiter exoplanet
State-of-the-Art Computational Fluid Dynamics in Aeronautics Research
Dazzling visualizations of simulations run on NAS supercomputers illustrate state-of-the-art computational fluid dynamics (CFD) methods that have fundamentally changed the aerospace design process.
The Rock That Ended the Dinosaurs Was Much More Than a Dino Killer
In his New York Times interview, NAS user Bill Bottke from the Southwest Research Institute described NASA’s Pleiades supercomputer as a “game changer” for his research team, which ran simulations of 130,000 model asteroids evolving over hundreds of millions of years—including the one that may have killed off the dinosaurs.
NASA's First Lunar Rover will Scour the Moon's South Pole for Water in 2023
With NASA planning to land the world's first autonomous lunar rover to search for water deposits, scientists are creating 3D road maps for the rover to safely explore the lunar surface using the agency's open-source Stereo Pipeline software tool and NAS's Pleiades supercomputer.
NASA Glenn Aerospace Engineers Use Supercomputers at NAS to Predict Turbulent Air Flows
NAS experts recently helped aerospace engineers at NASA’s Glenn Research Center optimize their high fidelity Wave-Resolving Large-Eddy Simulation (WRLES) code, which they use to predict turbulent flows that occur around aircraft. These predictions can help design engineers reduce noise during takeoff and landing, and to improve fuel efficiency during all stages of flight.
NASA Supercomputing at SiliCon with Adam Savage
Attending SiliCon this weekend in San Jose? Don't miss the Women of NASA panel featuring NAS aerospace engineer Ashley Coates! Stop by the convention center's Grand Ballroom at 2:30 p.m. Saturday to learn about her work on asteroid risk assessment and her path to NASA.
Visualization of Gas Around a Simulated Galaxy
Visualizations developed by NAS Division experts are helping scientists understand how galaxies form and evolve. Researchers in the Physics and Astronomy Department at Johns Hopkins University ran this simulation of gas in and around an evolving galaxy on our Pleiades supercomputer for the Figuring Out Gas & Galaxies In Enzo (FOGGIE) project. Take a look at the spectacular video of a simulated galaxy—along with other beautiful images and movies in the NAS Scientific Visualization Gallery.
NAS Models Illuminate Understanding of Rotating Stars
Researchers in the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division are developing highly realistic models to help improve our understanding of the internal processes of rotating stars, and at the same time enhance knowledge of our Sun and how it affects us here on Earth. Their simulations, run on the Pleiades supercomputer, revealed some surprising results.
NASA Model Describes Nearby Star which Resembles Ours in its Youth
New research led by NASA provides a closer look at a nearby star thought to resemble our young Sun. Using the Pleiades supercomputer at the NAS facility, the researchers performed simulations of the star Kappa 1 Ceti with an updated model and data inputs from a variety of space missions. The work allows scientists to better understand what our Sun may have been like when it was young, and how it may have shaped the atmosphere of our planet and the development of life on Earth.
Finding the Source of the Impactor that Wiped out the Dinosaurs
Researchers from Southwest Research Institute are using the Pleiades supercomputer at the NAS facility to simulate the evolutionary processes that deliver large asteroids, like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs, to Earth from the outer half of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter—a process now known to occur 10 times more frequently than previously thought.
COVID Researchers Complete Projects Using Supercomputers at NAS
Using computing resources at the NAS facility, COVID-19 scientists from around the U.S. conducted rapid research in the fight to understand the SARS-CoV-2 virus and develop treatments and vaccines to help bring an end to the pandemic. Three research projects were recently completed using donated supercomputing time and services, and results have been shared via publications and presentations.
New Maps Help Developers Plan Lunar Road Trip for VIPER’s Artemis Mission
A team at at NASA’s Ames Research Center is using the processing power of the Pleiades supercomputer, combined with NASA’s open source Stereo Pipeline software, to develop maps of the Moon’s terrain by layering thousands of satellite images taken by cameras aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The maps wiil be used by the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER), scheduled to land on the Moon in 2023 to search for ice and other resources.
Learn more about the NAS Division's role in the Space Shuttle Program.
Requests for Supercomputing Time Due July 20
NASA’s Aeronautics, Human Exploration and Operations, Science, and Space Technology mission directorates, along with the NASA Engineering and Safety Center, are currently gathering requests for time on high-end computing resources at the NASA Advanced Supercomputing facility, for awards to begin October 1, 2021. Work supported by NASA outside of these organizations will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. The deadline to submit a request is July 20.
Inside NASA's X-59 Plane: Supersonic Flight Without the Boom
NASA and Lockheed Martin's vision for the future of supersonic flight is now in its final stages of development. Getting the X-59 through the design process has taken a lot of testing in virtual wind tunnels, with many of these complex simulations performed by the NAS Division's LAVA team on NAS supercomputers over the last several years. Click below to watch the cool CNET video.
NASA Software Catalog Available for a Variety of Technical Applications
NASA’s latest software catalog has hundreds of codes available for free download, including the NAS Division’ award-winning Cart3D package for modeling and simulation of next-generation quieter aircraft, designing launch vehicles and spacecraft, and asteroid risk modeling—plus other NAS-developed software used for critical agency missions.
New Bolide Detection Pipeline Deployed on the Pleiades Supercomputer
Scientists at NASA’s Ames Research Center have published a paper in Icarus on the development of an automated pipeline to detect bolides in Earth’s atmosphere. Data gathered from the GOES Geostationary Lightning Mapper satellite is processed through the pipeline, optimized and validated on the NAS facility’s Pleiades supercomputer.
Read the abstract: An Automated Bolide Detection Pipeline for GOES GLM
NAS Visualization Experts Expand Access to High-Resolution Ocean Simulations
The NAS Visualization and Data Analysis team recently released a news database of pre-computed visualizations from the Estimating the Circulation and Climate of the Ocean (ECCO) project’s 14-month, global ocean simulation.
Aitken Expansion Clocks More than 10,000 Hours in First Three Months
As soon as the Aitken supercomputer's new nodes went into production after its recent expansion, NAS users quickly put them to use for their science and engineering projects.
NASA Partners with Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation to Expand Efforts to Map Corals
NASA’s Ames Research Center is partnering with the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation to use their extensive high-resolution data about reefs and expand NASA’s coral mapping capabilities even further. The partnership will use the massive Global Reef Expedition dataset in conjunction with the neural network and the Pleiades supercomputer at the NAS facility.
Which Way Does the Solar Wind Blow? Supercomputers Improve Space Weather Prediction
Using supercomputers at NAS, as well as the Texas Advanced Computing Center and the San Diego Supercomputing Center, researchers are improving models and methods to predict space weather, including the arrival of coronal mass ejections.
Learn more about How Supercomputers Improve Space Weather Prediction
Saving Earth from Asteroids
NAS researchers are running millions of high-fidelity computer simulations of hypothetical impact and airburst scenarios to help estimate possible damage if a real asteroid ever reaches Earth.
Read more on simulations of possible asteroid impact scenarios
Using NAS-Developed Tools to Quiet the Boom of Supersonic Flight
Researchers at NAS are using in-house-developed tools to help NASA develop its innovative low-boom supersonic X-plane.
Learn more more about NAS tools used to help develop the X-plane
Deciphering Medical Risk with High-Performance Computing
Researchers at NASA Ames are performing complex DNA sequence analysis on the Pleiades supercomputer to help identify medical risks to astronauts during future missions to the Moon, and to answer questions about COVID-19 genetic variations in humans.
Read more on the Pleiades supercomputer's role in analyzing astronaut health risks
Solar Physicist Proposes New Mechanism for How Electrons Work in Solar Flares
A new mechanism to explain how electrons work in solar flares has been proposed by a University of Alabama in Huntsville solar physicist using a theoretical model of particle acceleration and supercomputers at the NAS facility.
LAVA: NASA’s Hottest Flow Solver Contributes to Astronaut Safety
The NAS Division’s LAVA software is helping to reduce risk and ensure the safety of astronauts on the launch pad and during the moments after takeoff.
Learn more about how LAVA will help astronauts safely launch into space
