A model of the armillary sphere at ESRIN in Italy. Image: © ESA - S Corvaja
Space HPC is open to start-ups and SMEs, scientists or industrial professionals for free until the end of 2025.
The European Space Agency (ESA), in partnership with Hewlett Packard Enterprise, has brought a state-of-the-art supercomputer to the ESA Centre for Earth Observation (ESRIN) in Italy.
The high-performance computer called Space HPC, is designed to enhance the ESA’s scientific research and technological developments, while also providing businesses and researchers with access to resources that would enhance innovation.
Space HPC, with its 34,000 CPU cores, 108 Nvidia H100 GPUs and 3,600 terabytes of storage is capable of processing massive datasets, run complex simulations and accelerate artificial intelligence (AI) applications.
According to the ESA, the supercomputer is open to start-ups and SMEs, scientists or industrial professionals, offering them the opportunity to use the system for free (with a limit on maximum usage) until the end of the year. By using the computing system, ESA and its partners will also have a platform to accelerate innovation and shorten development cycles.
Space HPC is highly capable and has strategic importance, the ESA said. For example, the Space Safety Programme has used Space HPC to improve end-to-end space weather modelling in Europe which could improve warnings of solar activity potentially harmful to space or Earth infrastructure.
Beyond space exploration, Space HPC will serve as a “critical infrastructure for powering the connected digital economy”, according to the ESA. The computational environment, with a “sustainable and energy-efficient approach” was inaugurated on Wednesday (12 March) at ESRIN.
“With this new facility, ESA is providing a flexible supercomputing infrastructure in support of R&D, testing and rapid benchmarking for ESA programmes, industrial players and researchers,” said Josef Aschbacher, the director general of ESA.
“Among others, SMEs, start-ups and the Φ-lab [phi lab] will be able to access resources that promote innovation and collaboration in the European space industry.
“The Space HPC provides a critical infrastructure to power the connected digital economy in support of the European Green Deal and Digital Agenda. ESA remains at the service of the space community in its quest to become more agile and effective, keeping European citizens at the very heart of the work it does.”
While Simonetta Cheli, the director of Earth Observation Programmes and director of ESA ESRIN, said: “The ESA Space HPC at ESRIN will be the central ESA reference for any kind of high-performance computing need for research and development for any ESA Directorate and for our industrial partners.
“Earth Observation Programme – the largest programme of ESA – is naturally a key actor in the HPC domain with strong impact on Earth observation data management and the development of novel applications and services.”
Later this month, the ESA will be decommissioning Gaia, a one-of-a-kind digital camera which has been capturing the secrets of the Milky Way system for more than a decade.
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