University of Florida scientists build a faster supercomputer for spacecraft

Haven't you ever sat in your space shuttle/module/station and said to yourself, "Gee, I wish that we had faster computers like those terrestrial scientists do." No? Well our actual astronauts apparently have. See, while you've got your current dual-core (soon to be quad- or oct-core) desktop PC, computers in space have to endure a great deal more stress -- you know, like that whole launching into space thing, not to mention cosmic radiation, and a whole host of other rugged requirements, which takes a toll on what processors can be used. Engineers at the University of Florida (including Alan George, a professor of electrical and computer engineering, pictured at right) and Honeywell Aerospace announced late this week that a new supercomputer 100 times faster than any current space-bound computer (that's 20 processors at a combined power of 100 gigaflops) is under development. If all goes according to plan, it'll get hitched to an unmanned NASA rocket aboard a test mission in 2009.

[Via Roland Piquepaille]

[GSM @ Oct 28th 2006 5:45PM]

Right now, the state of the art is 33MHz with 128MB of ram. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAD6000

[GSM @ Oct 28th 2006 5:50PM]

Whoops. I take that back. A version of the G3 is flying now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerPC_G3#RAD750

[mikee @ Oct 28th 2006 6:07PM]

so your telling me a ps3 (they say around 200 gflops) has more power than those multi million dollar spacecrafts?? why cant they put the computer components in a thick metal shield to protect it from the radiation and the such? but seriously, does the space shuttle have faster computers than we have here now?

[Geo @ Oct 28th 2006 6:24PM]

The shuttle flies with 8088's (the original PC) processor

[John Bartley @ Oct 29th 2006 11:50AM]

Metal shielding is great for some radiation; but when a cosmic ray hits a metal shield, it kicks loose more radiation. The shielding required to protect against all radiation is immense, far more than can be lifted by any booster, past or present. That's why we need Orion ships. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_%28nuclear_propulsion%29

[Gil @ Oct 28th 2006 6:29PM]

That's because it's an old POS.
The problem is cosmic radiation completely screws up the logic gates in the procs with small logic gates. That means the computers they use are ancient.

And no they can't encase it in steel. The whole damn problem with the space program is weight requirements.

[... @ Oct 28th 2006 6:29PM]

Wow, you guys need to brush up on your space knowledge!

Space ships only use little tiny computers b/c it costs a TON of money to launch a big huge computer up there, and then you have to power it (which also costs an unreasonably large amount of money, a single solar cell that puts out 500ma/0.5v costs about $100, you do the math to figure out how much it would cost to power a real computer)

Keep in mind that the space shuttle doesn't need the insane amount of precessing ability. The first launches were done with less computing power than is in a single C64!

Just goes to show how insanely bloated current software is.

[Kevon @ Oct 28th 2006 6:45PM]

Wow, UF is one awesome college... I wonder if those professors will lend their expertise to work on other computer projects

[UFGrayMatter @ Oct 28th 2006 8:12PM]

as an alumn - i would have to agree :)

[DarkFader @ Oct 28th 2006 7:09PM]

How long till HAL 9000 ?

[UFGrayMatter @ Oct 28th 2006 8:10PM]

I was recently at NASA in Houston w/ as part of a trip w/ the Air Force and they told us the first crafts were going up w/ computer programs that were smaller in size than today's emails. Pretty darn interesting

[rwebbart @ Oct 28th 2006 9:02PM]

What I find interesting is that they are testing it with a "Dell" branded keyboard and Monitor. (I only recognize it because I....I mean, uhh, a friend, has one on his desk)

If there is Dell hardware of any kind going up in one of those flying space vehicles it makes me very worried....

[nb @ Oct 28th 2006 11:29PM]

yea rwebbart..........how dare they use a dell monitor and keyboard.........???? um, it's just a monitor they're using to TEST the processors, not to actually use the monitor in space.

[mike956 @ Oct 28th 2006 11:42PM]

bah they should just send a Wireless monitor with Super computer on earth just tab a military SAT and hook them up with a 10Gbps and there set

[Nathan @ Oct 29th 2006 12:56AM]

The reason NASA uses old procs and other components is that the average "hardening" time to turn a land based computer system into a space ready computer is one decade. They do not want to send any one into space with computers that can malfunction because they are improperly shielded and strengthened to withstand all the rigors of space flight.

[Gadget Extremist @ Oct 29th 2006 1:49AM]

It's wasn't too long ago that that the news of the day was that NASA was scouring EBAY for old (early model) IBM PC's from the 1980's. The reason was that they were looking for parts to power the Space Shuttles 8086/8088/8186 Computers.

[mb @ Oct 29th 2006 1:52AM]

Heat doesn't dissipate well in space.

[Fire Hazard @ Oct 29th 2006 3:26AM]

I knew I had seen laptops in space:

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=213

(Note that NASA calls the modified IBM thinkpad the PGSC)

Read this:

"What modifications need to be made? Compared to the adaptations made for some items of hardware, the PGSC modifications were rather modest in comparision: power adapters, cooling, and physical attachments being the only major modifications needed."

This article also says that the only reason why they weren't using the newest laptop was because they couldn't test and prepare them for the missions quick enough. It's all in the article.

Guess the radiation doesn't do anything!? I don't see them IBMs thinkpads covered in lead. o_O

[cr4a @ Oct 30th 2006 8:01PM]

Yeah, they use IBM Thinkpads on the ISS, because the logic went that it was cheaper to buy throwaway everyday laptops and replace them when the radiation fried 'em than to spend a bundle on hardened ones.

Of course, word from an ex-ISS mission ops director is that this idea turned out to be impractical and completely annoying, as they need to reboot the damn things 20 times per day just to keep 'em running.

[betatim @ Oct 29th 2006 5:39AM]

an intresting read is http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/8097 , the first beowulf cluster in space. they took of the shelf strongARM processors and stuc them together in a way similiar to what the guys in florida are doing i believe.

[Geof F. Morris @ Oct 29th 2006 11:40PM]

The issue that most often gets mentioned to me is a concern about bit-flipping due to cosmic radiation environments that we don't see here on the ground [and, as such, don't design around]. You do see decently-powered computers with the experiment-level stuff---I remember P3 and P4 laptops being used a few years ago with EXPRESS Rack back when I worked payloads---but mission-critical stuff has to be so hardedened because, well ... people's asses are on the line, and it's not like testing for the shielding is easy to do [since the environment isn't readily accessible].

[morcheeba @ Oct 30th 2006 1:29AM]

John Bartley is right -- shielding protects against some types of radiation, but not others. They can use a ceramic that's got a better shielding/weight ratio than metals, but that's a stop-gap measure.

I worked at a company that bought some of the last new 8087's on the planet. Our 4.77 MHz 8086-based processors weren't fast enough, so I added the coprocessor. That was 1998.

A big thing in space flight is getting it to work the first time -- most projects can't afford to try another launch. So, "heritage" is a key word when selling a system. That also means that there is a disincentive to try new components. It's a valid concern -- radiation testing costs money, and new design risk is real.

At the time I added the 8087, we had a fully built-but-untested 386 design in-house... but the 386 was never used because it didn't have "heritage" (remember, this was at the time of 200 MHz Pentiums & lots of lower-power embedded processors, too).

[SINNACLE @ Oct 30th 2006 1:36AM]

NASA just has a fetish for sending old pieces of garbage into space....are the shuttles older than the astronauts yet? Strap a port-o-let to a rocket, give the astronaut an abacus and hit the plunger.....I guaruntee the govt. could accomplish this for under a billion dollars......no, wait, I take that back. I forgot this is NASA we were talking about.