Lunar Vacation Planning

The moon’s surface is not exactly a vacation spot – with no atmosphere, a gloomy gray landscape, average temperatures around -300 degrees Fahrenheit, and a lengthy 5-day, 250,000-mile commute from Earth.  Yet, being able to use our Moon as a stepping-stone towards Mars and beyond is essential and the research we can accomplish on the lunar surface can be invaluable.  In 3.5 billion years, our sun will shine almost 40% brighter which will boil the Earth’s oceans, melt the ice caps, and strip all of the moisture from our atmosphere. Long before that happens though, climate change will likely choke our planet, or we could get pummeled by asteroids, or even swallowed by a black hole.

Meanwhile, whatever we can do to advance science through space and lunar exploration is crucial to our understanding and eventual survival.  The NASA Artemis lunar exploration program looks to establish sustainable missions by 2028.  Not only will Artemis demonstrate new technologies, capabilities and business approaches needed for future exploration, it will inspire a new generation and encourage careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).

HPE, one of SUSE’s most important partners in High-Performance Computing and the advancement of science and technology, is now building NASA’s new supercomputer named “Aitken” to support Artemis and future human missions to the moon.  HPE’s “Aitken” supercomputer will be built at NASA’s Ames Research Center and will run SUSE Linux Enterprise HPC (co-located where the Pleiades supercomputer – also SUSE-based – has been advancing research for several years).   Aitken will run extremely complex simulations for entry, descent and landing on the moon as part of the Artemis program.  The missions include landing the next humans on the lunar south polar region by 2024 (on the rim of the Shackleton crater, which experiences constant indirect sunlight for a toasty -300 degrees Fahrenheit).

Following HPE’s success with its Spaceborne Computer on the International Space Station, HPE Computing Solutions brings it back down to Earth and makes supercomputing more accessible and affordable for organizations and industries of all sizes.  SUSE is excited to work alongside HPE in helping to solve the world’s most complex problems.  SUSE HPC solutions can provide the software platform needed to run new-wave workloads that include complex simulations, machine learning, advanced analytics and more.  SUSE HPC solutions include the operating system along with many popular HPC management and monitoring tools, libraries, Ceph-based storage for both primary and second-tier software-defined storage, and cloud images for HPC bursting and building HPC in the cloud.

To learn more, start with our HPC information page at https://www.suse.com/programs/high-performance-computing/ and check out our SUSE HPC product page at https://www.suse.com/products/server/hpc/ .

Thanks for reading!

Jeff Reser  @JeffReser