NASA Unveils New Research Progress for Human Mission to the Moon With Supercomputer Powered by Hewlett Packard Enterprise - Seite 2

The supercomputer will expand with HPE Apollo systems using 2^nd Gen AMD EPYC processors to provide advanced compute power to support ongoing research.

NASA’s Aitken Supercomputer Advances Research Progress for Return-to-Moon Mission
NASA’s Aitken supercomputer has already helped researchers make progress for the Artemis mission in the following areas:

Develop an Aerodynamic Database for Possible Events during the Artemis Booster Separation
NASA’s engineers need to understand possible events that could occur during booster separation from the core of the Artemis rocket during liftoff, which is critical to the safety of the crew and success of the mission. NASA considers the possibilities that the two solid rocket boosters (SRBs), developed for the mission, will strike the core center or each other during the separation event.

To simulate and model all variables during separation events during the Artemis mission, NASA has developed a database of aerodynamic data to showcase possible positioning of the boosters during separation. By applying computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools using NASA’s Aitken supercomputer and accounting for 22 different engine rocket plumes, which are moving hot exhaust gases, researchers were able to develop a database of 13 independent variables to model all possible in-flight events during booster separation. The project can be viewed here.

The expansion to NASA’s Aitken supercomputer will enable even more detailed and comprehensive databases to improve accuracy in analysis for a safer flight.

Understanding the Launch Environment at the Kennedy Space Center
The Artemis mission is set to launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida. NASA’s researchers need to understand the effects of ignition overpressure (IOP) and duct overpressure (DOP) waves that are caused by the rapid expansion of gas from the rocket nozzle during launch.

NASA’s Launch, Ascent, and Vehicle Aerodynamics (LAVA) team has been using NASA’s Aitken supercomputer to apply computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to simulate these waves and how they interact with the launch vehicle to examine any potential dangers to the mission.

The ongoing analysis helps NASA’s engineers make advancements to the design of the launch environment. With the expanded Aitken supercomputer, researchers will gain additional compute power to further improve time-to-solution for the launch pad redesign to accommodate the Space Launch System. The project can be viewed here.