HPE Sends Supercomputer to ISS as Part of SpaceX’s 12th Cargo Resupply Mission

A Hewlett Packard Enterprise-built supercomputer took off aboard a SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft Monday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The spacecraft launched on a Falcon 9 rocket as part of SpaceX’s 12th Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station.

The Spaceborne Computer is part of a one-year experiment that HPE will conduct with NASA to test the capability of a commercial-off-the-shelf, high-performance computing system to operate and withstand conditions in space, HPE said Friday.

HPE expects the experiment to help advance the development of onboard computing platforms in space designed to reduce communication latencies in preparation for future missions to Mars.

The ruggedized supercomputer has HPE-built Apollo 40-class systems and an HPC interconnect that runs on a Linux open-source operating system.

NASA approved the Spaceborne Computer after the system completed more than 146 certifications and safety tests.

HPE said it plans to send memory-driven computing platforms and other technology tools to the orbiting laboratory as part of the year-long experiment.