SpaceX Cargo Capsule Delivered The Spaceborne Computer to the ISS in August 2017
In August 2017, the SpaceX cargo capsule delivered new equipment to the ISS - the Space Computer (The Spaceborne Computer). More than a year spent on testing and now researchers believe that the computer is ready to serve the crew.
Supercomputer - a group of computers working together. The representative of the ISS contains 32 cores and resembles earthly ones. It is 30-100 times faster than an iPhone or tablet. NASA must be confident that the new supercomputer will be able to fully function in the harsh space conditions, where microgravity, radiation and accidental power cuts are present. The specific model successfully coped with all the tests. The main goal of such an introduction is the ability to conduct scientific analyzes in space without first having to transmit data to Earth. The connection between the ISS and the Earth is still unreliable and sometimes seems too slow. Periodically there is a problem with the connection, and the gap exceeds the duration of a few seconds.
With the new system, crew members get higher bandwidth to move data. This is important, because future travel to Mars will lead to delays of 20 minutes or more. Therefore, testing such supercomputers in space at a relatively close distance (400 km) will help in the development of more advanced systems. The new computer will continue to be tested for several months, after which it will be sent to Earth for further updates.
