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How to pack a supercomputer in a nanosatellite

Pittcam
The experimental payload known as STP-H6/SSIVP is equipped with two high-resolution cameras and supercomputer-level processing power. (Pitt Photo)

Putting a supercomputer in a package that’s roughly the size of a loaf of bread is one thing. Making sure the supercomputer is radiation-hardened to survive the harsh conditions of space is quite another.

A team headquartered at the University of Pittsburgh is trying to do both, for an experiment that’s backed by the Department of Defense, NASA and the National Science Foundation.

“Computer engineering for space is the ultimate challenge,” Pitt engineering professor Alan George, founder of Pitt’s NSF Center for Space, High-Performance and Resilient Computing, or SHREC, said in a news release.

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Obama goes into full (and feisty) geek mode

Obama at Frontiers Conference
“Innovation is in our DNA,” President Barack Obama tells his audience at the White House Frontiers Conference in Pittsburgh. (Credit: White House)

President Barack Obama stated the obvious today during what almost sounded like a farewell address to the tech community he loves.

“I confess, I am a science geek,” he said at the White House Frontiers Conference in Pittsburgh. “I’m a nerd, and I don’t make any apologies for it. … It’s cool stuff.”

Obama geeked out big time during his visit to Carnegie Mellon University – checking in with a quadriplegic patient whose sense of finger touch was restored thanks to a brain implant, and steering a flight simulator for a Boeing CST-100 Starliner capsule’sdocking with the International Space Station.

“Your ride is here, baby,” Obama said after mastering the simulated hookup.

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