NASA: Unlocking the Universe and Protecting Our Planet
At SC ‘24, Solidigm’s Jeniece Wnorowski caught up with NASA's Laura Carriere to discuss the space agency’s high performance computing (HPC) capabilities and the role of supercomputers in advancing Earth sciences, climate research, and more.
Laura, the high-performance computing (HPC) lead for NASA's Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS) in Greenbelt, Maryland, discussed how the smaller of NASA’s two supercomputing facilities focuses on Earth sciences while also supporting astrophysics, heliophysics, and planetary science research.
NASA’s Discover supercomputer plays a pivotal role in climate modeling, helping scientists tackle challenges like air pollution, aerosol movement, and hurricane formation, Laura said. With 60 petabytes of storage, Discover integrates powerful CPUs and GPUs to process massive datasets. Complementing Discover is the Prism system, a GPU-dense supercomputing environment that supports artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) applications for tasks such as atmospheric simulations and space studies.
Visualizing Climate Change
One standout area of focus for NASA is aerosols—tiny particles that affect air quality and weather patterns. Using 3D climate models, NASA’s scientists can visualize how dust travels from the Sahara Desert to Florida or how sea salt is picked up at the poles. These dynamic visualizations provide insights into air pollution, emissions, and the impacts of climate change, helping policymakers and researchers develop data-driven strategies.
Power and Storage Challenges
While NASA’s supercomputers are powerful, they are also constrained by power and cost limitations. Discover’s modular design allows for incremental upgrades, decommissioning older components as new ones are added, Laura said. This ensures optimal performance but necessitates careful resource planning.
On the storage side, NASA maintains datasets on spinning disks, balancing cost-efficiency with performance. Laura noted that transitioning to high-capacity solid-state drives (SSDs) could drastically reduce power consumption and physical footprint, enabling more efficient operations. However, the highly compressed nature of NASA’s datasets poses unique challenges for cost-effectiveness in SSD adoption.
AI Meets Space Exploration
NASA is increasingly incorporating AI into its operations. The Prism system has enabled researchers to develop foundation models for Earth sciences and accelerate tasks such as binary star detection. Laura shared a captivating example of using HPC and ML to identify sextuple star systems—three binary star pairs gravitationally bound together.
NASA also used its supercomputers to generate awe-inspiring visualizations of black holes, giving the public a glimpse into the mysteries of the universe. These groundbreaking projects demonstrate the synergy between HPC, AI, and scientific discovery.
So what’s the TechArena take? As NASA’s awe-inspiring work continues to push the boundaries of science and technology, the agency’s commitment to HPC and data-driven research remains steadfast. As the agency continues to make incremental improvements in its HPC hardware and capabilities, we’ll be watching closely to see which of the great mysteries of Earth and space they solve next.
At SC ‘24, Solidigm’s Jeniece Wnorowski caught up with NASA's Laura Carriere to discuss the space agency’s high performance computing (HPC) capabilities and the role of supercomputers in advancing Earth sciences, climate research, and more.
Laura, the high-performance computing (HPC) lead for NASA's Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS) in Greenbelt, Maryland, discussed how the smaller of NASA’s two supercomputing facilities focuses on Earth sciences while also supporting astrophysics, heliophysics, and planetary science research.
NASA’s Discover supercomputer plays a pivotal role in climate modeling, helping scientists tackle challenges like air pollution, aerosol movement, and hurricane formation, Laura said. With 60 petabytes of storage, Discover integrates powerful CPUs and GPUs to process massive datasets. Complementing Discover is the Prism system, a GPU-dense supercomputing environment that supports artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) applications for tasks such as atmospheric simulations and space studies.
Visualizing Climate Change
One standout area of focus for NASA is aerosols—tiny particles that affect air quality and weather patterns. Using 3D climate models, NASA’s scientists can visualize how dust travels from the Sahara Desert to Florida or how sea salt is picked up at the poles. These dynamic visualizations provide insights into air pollution, emissions, and the impacts of climate change, helping policymakers and researchers develop data-driven strategies.
Power and Storage Challenges
While NASA’s supercomputers are powerful, they are also constrained by power and cost limitations. Discover’s modular design allows for incremental upgrades, decommissioning older components as new ones are added, Laura said. This ensures optimal performance but necessitates careful resource planning.
On the storage side, NASA maintains datasets on spinning disks, balancing cost-efficiency with performance. Laura noted that transitioning to high-capacity solid-state drives (SSDs) could drastically reduce power consumption and physical footprint, enabling more efficient operations. However, the highly compressed nature of NASA’s datasets poses unique challenges for cost-effectiveness in SSD adoption.
AI Meets Space Exploration
NASA is increasingly incorporating AI into its operations. The Prism system has enabled researchers to develop foundation models for Earth sciences and accelerate tasks such as binary star detection. Laura shared a captivating example of using HPC and ML to identify sextuple star systems—three binary star pairs gravitationally bound together.
NASA also used its supercomputers to generate awe-inspiring visualizations of black holes, giving the public a glimpse into the mysteries of the universe. These groundbreaking projects demonstrate the synergy between HPC, AI, and scientific discovery.
So what’s the TechArena take? As NASA’s awe-inspiring work continues to push the boundaries of science and technology, the agency’s commitment to HPC and data-driven research remains steadfast. As the agency continues to make incremental improvements in its HPC hardware and capabilities, we’ll be watching closely to see which of the great mysteries of Earth and space they solve next.
