Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/pc/text/jplnews2/1328c.pr

Text File | 1993-05-03 | 4KB | 80 lines

PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE [phone]


EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE NO EARLIER
THAN A.M.s TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1990



        A new highly parallel supercomputer capable of solving
problems at extremely high speeds is being acquired by a
consortium involving the California Institute of Technology, the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA and a number of other
organizations, it has been announced.
        Complex problems in space sciences and global
atmospheric modeling related to the greenhouse effect and ozone
depletion will be among topics assigned to the supercomputer,
according to Dr. Carl Kukkonen of JPL.
        The announcement was made this morning (Nov. 13) at a
news briefing in New York City at Supercomputing '90, an industry
event.
        The speed and memory of the supercomputer -- a
Touchstone Delta System made by the Intel Corp. -- will make it
the world's most powerful computer when it is installed early
next year, consortium organizers say.
        The Delta uses a network of 528 Intel i860 processor
units working concurrently on a problem at a given time.  As a
result it can achieve a peak speed of 32 gigaflops, or billions
of floating-point operations per second.  Its memory capacity is

8 gigabytes.
        The Delta is 2 to 10 times faster than other existing
supercomputers, said Kukkonen.
        The Delta System is the result of research
collaboration between Caltech and Intel.  Work in parallel
processing has been pursued at Caltech and JPL throughout the
past six years.
        JPL researchers will use the supercomputer to explore a
wide range of Earth and space science topics under NASA's High
Performance Computing Initiative.  In addition to atmospheric
studies, initial problems to be run on the Delta include solar
and astrophysical modeling.
        Another major application will be visualization of
scientific data from the planets Venus and Jupiter gathered by
the NASA/JPL Magellan and Galileo missions, Kukkonen said.
        JPL will also use the Delta to design future solar
system exploration spacecraft and remote-sensing instruments, and
to develop command sequences to control spacecraft.
        NASA researchers in other parts of the country are
expected to use the Delta in areas such as computer simulation of
aerospace vehicles.
        Kukkonen heads JPL's Microelectronics and Advanced
Computing Technology Office, which will manage JPL's share of the
Delta.
        Joining Caltech and JPL among the consortium's partners
will be Argonne National Laboratory; the Center for Research in
Parallel Computation, operated by several institutions underNational Science Foundation sponsorship; various other National
Science Foundation-sponsored programs; the federal Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA); Intel Corp.'s
Supercomputer Systems Division; NASA; and Pacific Northwest
Laboratory.
        Other consortium members include Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Oak Ridge
National Laboratory, Purdue University and Sandia National
Laboratories.
        The Delta will be physically located in Caltech's
Concurrent Supercomputing Facilities in Pasadena, Calif.
        Development of the Delta at Intel and related basic
research at Caltech are funded by DARPA.  Additional funding for
research in parallel computation at Caltech and JPL was provided
by the U.S. Department of Energy's Applied Mathematical Sciences
program and the U.S. Air Force's Electronic Systems Division.
        Dr. Carl Kukkonen is the son of Carl and Shirley
Kukkonen of Hancock, Michigan.
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