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Science NASA’s Pleiades Project to speed up exploration of universe
Science NASA’s Pleiades Project to speed up exploration of universe | NASA’s Pleiades Project to speed up exploration of universe |
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| by William Atkins | |
| Sunday, 11 May 2008 | |
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Page 2 of 2 As of November 2007, according to the 30th list of the TOP500, the most powerful computer in the world is the BlueGene/L System (“Overview of the BlueGene/L Supercomputer”, pdf file). The 31st list of the 500 fastest computers in the world (“TOP500”) will be announced during the June 17-20, 2008 meeting of the International Supercomputing Conference in Dresden, Germany. Since June 1993, a list of the 500 most powerful computer systems has been announced twice a year in the “TOP500” list. The list is compiled with the use of a questionnaire given to computer experts, computational scientists, manufacturers, and various members of the Internet community. The TOP500 supercomputer list is promoted by Prometeus, a service company specializing in the field of high performance Computing. Prometeus is also the organizer of the International Supercomputing Conference. The project between NASA, Intel, and SGI is named The Pleiades Project. Talking about The Pleiades Project, Pete Worden, director of the Ames Research Center, stated, "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.” [BusinessWire.com: “NASA, Intel, SGI Plan to ‘Soup Up’ Supercomputer”] Worden added, “This additional computational performance is necessary to help us achieve breakthrough scientific discoveries." [BBC News: “Nasa set to join petaflop elite”] In response to the NASA agreement, Robert Ewald, chief executive officer for SGI, stated, “Throughout its history, NASA has sought to explore the most compelling questions about mankind, Earth, and the worlds that await our discovery. 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.” [BusinessWire.com] In addition, Diane M. Bryant, vice president of Intel’s Digital Enterprise Group and general manager of Server Platforms Group, stated, “Intel, working with SGI, is proud to play an important role in helping NASA expand the pursuit of scientific discovery. Systems such as Pleiades challenge the imagination, and guide our exploration of Earth, space, and beyond. As we approach performance that was once thought impossible to achieve, our eyes are opened even wider to the vast possibilities enabled by supercomputing.” [BusinessWire.com]
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