back to article HPE's Spaceborne supercomputer returns to terra firma after 615 days on the ISS

While HP may be struggling to meet demand for its new idiot visors, HPE's Spaceborne Computer has returned to Earth after 615 days onboard the International Space Station. Hewlett Packard Enterprise's baby, a box based on its Apollo 40-Class computer system (a two-socket Xeon affair usually found elsewhere at NASA), was flung …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Not standard kit !

    Last I've checked on the handful of HPE superdomes we have in a customer DC, the kit can't really survive without an HPE poor guy, chained to it via a laptop.

    So in ISS, this is for sure ad-hoc kit.

    I mean, we have like 6 SDs and dozens of IBM Pseries in said DC, and I very rarely see IBM, but it really seems, every time I get there, the HPE bods are literally living there !

  2. big_D Silver badge
    Coat

    Yes, but...

    did it run Autonomy software?

    1. Korev Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: Yes, but...

      Yes, but it was a terraflop....

      1. big_D Silver badge
        Pint

        Re: Yes, but...

        Great riposte, glad I didn't have a mouthful of coffee when I read it!

  3. Korev Silver badge
    Joke

    Supercomputer in Space? That'd be Cray-zy

    1. Gordon 10
      Joke

      It was all faked. Its amazing what you can do with SGI these days.

      1. Nate Amsden

        maybe ironic that HPE owns SGI now

  4. macjules
    Paris Hilton

    New HPE motto?

    "We put a computer into space, and this wasn't a shocking failure of management for once"

    (Needs work)

    1. Gordon 10

      Re: New HPE motto?

      "HPE - as long as NASA is your system integrator our stuff just works"

  5. IT Poser
    Pint

    Hold my beer...

    ""We said, 'Oh no, it will never wake up,' because pulling a plug on a Linux server is the worst thing you can do."

    *Grabs aluminium, iron oxide, and magnesium*

    1. Orv Silver badge

      Re: Hold my beer...

      TBH I haven't worried about power cuts on Linux servers since journaling filesystems became a thing. Since then I don't think I've ever had a blown filesystem due to sudden loss of power.

    2. choleric

      Re: Hold my beer...

      > "We said, 'Oh no, it will never wake up,' because pulling a plug on a Linux server is the worst thing you can do."

      >

      > "*Grabs aluminium, iron oxide, and magnesium*"

      >

      *Opens lead lined storage box, reaches in, cautiously, for copy of Windows .... ME*

    3. MyffyW Silver badge

      Re: Hold my beer...

      Really ... that's the worst thing you can do? This vicars daughter can think of much more terrible activities....

  6. Cuddles

    Supercomputer?

    "a two-socket Xeon affair"

    That doesn't sound particularly super.

    1. Orv Silver badge

      Re: Supercomputer?

      By space standards, maybe. From my understanding general-purpose computing on the ISS is normally done with laptops. I doubt they had the power or cooling headroom for a 4.5 kW blade server enclosure. ;)

  7. Sgt_Oddball
    Flame

    Admit it..

    We'd all have loved to be on site support for it.

    Its only about 250 miles away after all...

    1. Wexford

      Re: Admit it..

      Or 13,000km. Hopefully your travel office folks will be on the ball and time your trip accordingly.

  8. bombastic bob Silver badge
    Linux

    because pulling a plug on a Linux server is the worst thing you can do

    actually, the WORST thing you can do is install Windows on top of the Linux [thinking it would be 'better']

    But I expect that without massive database accessing going on at the time of the plug-pulling (or equivalent) incident, the EXT4 file system did its job and no data was corrupted. maybe a transaction or two was lost, but that's the point. File/System integrity was preserved!

    And that assumes it wasn't using ZFS, which should be even better at such things.

    Got, Linux?

    1. FuzzyTheBear
      Coat

      Re: because pulling a plug on a Linux server is the worst thing you can do

      Worst thing left me with a head full of questions .. im used to just see ext4 doing it's job , computer booting back up and going back to business without a fuss .. so worst thing you could do ? really ? thought the idea behind all the work is to be reliable and without headaches. :)

    2. Captain Scarlet Silver badge
      Windows

      Re: because pulling a plug on a Linux server is the worst thing you can do

      I assume your installing Windows on top of Linux comment is due to Windows installer overwriting all Linux's partitions (Where as most Linux distros will do their best to keep Windows and even add an entry in grub)?

      I am a bit miffed, only file system issues I've had is when I wear out SD Cards in my Raspberry Pi's or in one occassion where cooling failed at a DC with my web server and it promptly cooked the HD. Neither the file systems fault.

      1. Orv Silver badge

        Re: because pulling a plug on a Linux server is the worst thing you can do

        I think the last time for me was a corrupted ReiserFS partition, but the hard disk controller turned out to be defective.

  9. druck Silver badge

    Rads

    The plan had been to run the thing for a year to see how it would stand up to life in orbit onboard the ISS. A year or so, after all, is roughly how long a round trip to Mars could take.

    There's hell of a difference in the radiation environment between ISS's orbit and a Mars transit.

  10. Bronek Kozicki
    Flame

    "... because pulling a plug on a Linux server is the worst thing you can do. "

    what the fsck?

    1. defiler

      Re: "... because pulling a plug on a Linux server is the worst thing you can do. "

      I'm always amused by "the worst thing" that people think of. They usually show a distinct lack of imagination.

      Same with the "rate your pain from 0 to 10, where 0 is normal and 10 is the worst pain imaginable" thing. Last time I was in the back of an ambulance I'd crashed a motorbike, broken bones, and was hesitant about going to a 4. (Tiger attack always adds at least one point...)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: "... because pulling a plug on a Linux server is the worst thing you can do. "

        You were attacked by a tiger after crashing your motorbike? Talk about having a bad day!

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: "... because pulling a plug on a Linux server is the worst thing you can do. "

          Worse, apparently he crashed his motorbike INTO the back of an open ambulance!

          1. choleric

            Re: "... because pulling a plug on a Linux server is the worst thing you can do. "

            ... while apparently attempting to attack a tiger. I would have awarded extra points for creative style.

          2. defiler

            Re: "... because pulling a plug on a Linux server is the worst thing you can do. "

            Not far off it. I swear I crashed right in front of a doctor riding his bicycle.

            He took charge of the scene there and then. Very professional.

            By the time the ambulance arrived a second doctor had stopped who was walking along that street, and a third stopped in his car. All eager to help.

            Honestly the first time I've ever been seen by three doctors before a nurse. The joys of binning a bike in the rush-hour traffic. I was amused at the time by the discussions of:

            "I'm a doctor - can I help?"

            "It's okay, Doctor, I'm a doctor."

            "Okay - carry on, Doctor!"

            Twice...

            To this day I still don't know precisely what went wrong, so I have to put it down to ham-fistedness on the brake.

          3. JJKing
            Coat

            Re: "... because pulling a plug on a Linux server is the worst thing you can do. "

            Worse, apparently he crashed his motorbike INTO the back of an open ambulance!

            Considering the article is in a way talking about Linux then surely he would have crashed into the back of an open source ambulance.

            I was going to be here 'til Friday but I shall leave now after that.

        2. defiler

          Re: "... because pulling a plug on a Linux server is the worst thing you can do. "

          You were attacked by a tiger after crashing your motorbike? Talk about having a bad day!

          Go big or go home. Crashed it into a bridge too. Must be disappointing to break an ankle falling down the stairs or something. :-/

  11. swm

    I don't see how running a computer slower would protect it from radiation. A flipped bit is a flipped bit at any speed. Did this machine have parity or ECC?

  12. Aussie Doc
    Joke

    If it's running Windows 10 For Spacecraft then it will be a bugger when then next lot of updates force it to reboot in the middle of a crisis.

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