AUSTIN, May 1, 2017 — The Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) has announced the formation of a five-year advanced computing partnership with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for up to $3.1 million. Under the contract, TACC will provide resources, including supercomputers, networks, storage, and expertise in applying computational methods to fundamental research, science and engineering challenges.
Advanced computing is foundational to the success of a wide range of modern science and engineering efforts relevant to JPL, from design of next generation flight systems to processing real-time data streams from large scale instruments, like telescopes. JPL is the leading U.S. center for robotic exploration of the solar system, and has 19 spacecraft and 10 major instruments carrying out planetary, Earth science, and space-based astronomy missions.
JPL’s requirements for specialized and increasingly more capable HPC resources grows every year. The partnership will significantly extend JPL’s existing computational services and expertise with resources at TACC. Services to be offered to JPL include HPC capabilities and scientific, technical, and operational consulting services.
“We believe this is an interesting space where we have something to contribute and JPL has things to teach us as well,” said John West, director of Strategic Initiatives at TACC. “We always look for opportunities that are high on the intellectual engagement scale. It makes us a better organization and better at serving our customers.”
TACC’s environment includes a comprehensive cyberinfrastructure ecosystem of leading-edge resources in high performance computing (HPC), visualization, data analysis, storage, archive, cloud, data-driven computing, connectivity, tools, APIs, algorithms, consulting, and software. In addition, TACC’s skilled experts work with thousands of researchers on more than 3,000 projects each year at more than 450 institutions across the country.
JPL’s workloads sourced to TACC are expected to represent the full spectrum of JPL’s fundamental research, development and operational areas.
About TACC
The Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin is a leading research center for advanced computational science, engineering and technology. TACC’s mission is to enable discoveries that advance science and society through the application of advanced computing technologies. To fulfill this mission, TACC provides comprehensive advanced computing resources and support services to researchers in Texas and across the nation. TACC conducts research and development in applications and algorithms, in computing systems design/architecture, and in programming tools and environments to produce new technologies that expand the capabilities of researchers for knowledge discovery. TACC also educates the next generation of computational researchers, and promotes awareness of the importance and impact of computing to science and society. Visit TACC’s website at: www.tacc.utexas.edu
Source: TACC