[img]http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/wp-content/uploads//2012/09/moon_Server.jpg[/img]
[quote=Wired.com]Should we build a supercomputer on the moon?
It would be a mammoth technical undertaking, but a University of Southern California graduate student thinks there’s a very good reason for doing this: It would help alleviate a coming deep-space network traffic jam that’s had NASA scientists worried for several years now.
Ouliang Chang floated his lunar supercomputer idea a few weeks ago at a space conference in Pasadena, California. The plan is to bury a massive machine in a deep dark crater, on the side of the moon that’s facing away from Earth and all of its electromagnetic chatter. Nuclear-powered, it would process data for space missions and slingshot Earth’s Deep Space Network into a brand new moon-centric era.
“Once the physical infrastructure backbone is laid out, I suspect it would look much like the monolith excavation site in Clarke and Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey,” says Chang’s course supervisor Madhu Thangavelu, of USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering.
The Deep Space Network is a network of 13 giant antennas located in the U.S., Australia, and Spain that gather data and talk to spacecraft in, well, deep space. These space missions are already fighting for bandwidth on this overloaded network and most of the data has to get back to Earth for processing. With a lunar supercomputer, Chang says, that could change.
His supercomputer would run in frigid regions near one of the moon’s poles. The cold temperatures would make cooling the supercomputer easier, and allow it to use super-efficient superconductive materials to move around electricity. Although it’s not clear how much water could be found on the moon’s poles, Chang envisions a water-cooled supercomputer.
How much would this Lunar supercomputer cost? Well, Chang and Thangavelu say it costs about $50,000 per pound to ship materials to the moon. Add to that the cost of digging out and building out the sub-lunar supercomputer center, cooling system and nuclear power generator, and you can easily envision a project in the $10 billion to $20 billion range, never mind the cost of building a lunar base station. That would easily make it the most expensive supercomputer ever built.
The lunar computer would communicate with spaceships and earth using a system of inflatable, steerable antennas that would hang suspended over moon craters, giving the Deep Space Network a second focal point away from earth.
[quote][img]http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/wp-content/uploads//2012/10/G-Lunar-Supercomputer-Complex-315x134.jpg[/img]
[i]Chang’s Lunar supercomputer complex Image: Ouliang Chang[/i][/quote]
Some at NASA agree that there’s a coming Deep Space Network traffic jam. Back in 2006. the agency’s top networking gurus warned that over the next three decades there will be an “order-of-magnitude increase in data to and from spacecraft and at least a doubling of the number of supported spacecraft.”
Space scientists are worried that the existing Deep Space Network hardware is obsolete and just not up to the job of transmitting the growing workload of extra-terrestrial data.
The U.S. space agency is going to have to come up with a plan, the scientists said.
In fact, Chang isn’t the first person to propose putting a big data processing facility on the moon. Back in 2004, researchers at Space Systems Loral described something called the Lunar Data Cache — an extraterrestrial backup system that would keep businesses online in the event of a Sept. 11, 2001-type terrorist strike somewhere on Earth. The Loral proposal also described a few way-out moneymaking ideas such as lunar rover-deployed billboards, robotic rock-heaving contests, robot wresting, and rover races piloted by NASCAR drivers.
Clearly, the business of dreaming up supercomputers in space is not for those who think small.
Still, after being reported in the New Scientist, Chang’s work has caught the interest of the space community because it addresses a very real and pressing space problem. And that’s something that could give future lunar missions a very clear and exciting sense of purpose, says his USC’s Thangavelu. “For now, it is piquing the mind of the policy makers,” he says.
“Even though far-out,” Chang’s paper “does excite the imagination,” says Kul Bhasin, a system engineer and formulation manager with NASA Glenn Research Center. He agrees that there is a growing problem with outer space networking.
Bhasin works on designing advanced space networking technologies, and he says that there are some promising alternative communications technologies — Laser-based networking, for example — that could break the Deep Space Network bottleneck.
Next year, researchers at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory will test out a 622 megabits per second Laser network that will speed up earth to moon communications fivefold.
The supercomputer-on-the-moon idea was pretty much a natural for Chang, who describes himself as a super-computing geek. “My PhD thesis is about doing one of the largest space plasma turbulence simulation in the world,” he says. “I just put two popular concepts — space exploration and cloud computing — together.”
So, will there ever be a supercomputer on the moon? Though NASA’s Bhasin finds it interesting, he’s really not sure it will ever happen. “Your guess is as good as mine,” he says.[/quote]
[url=http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2012/10/supercomputer-moon/][source][/url]
And NOW we finally have a legitimate reason to build a moon base beyond "why not."
The entire surface shall be encased in super-servers.
People will have gmod servers from the moon and use it as a cheesy marketing scheme for traffic even though it costs like 400$ a month!
and then EDI.
[QUOTE=goon165;37884305]and then EDI.[/QUOTE] [img]http://thamakaveliprophecy.webs.com/edi.jpg[/img]
[editline]2nd October 2012[/editline]
Fucking edit.
I agree completely, first man to manage the supercomputers. EDI is the nigga.
So how's the Text-To-Speech system going to work?
[QUOTE=J!NX;37884301]The entire surface shall be encased in super-servers.
People will have gmod servers from the moon and use it as a cheesy marketing scheme for traffic even though it costs like 400$ a month![/QUOTE]
I dunno, ping would be 2000+
Why yes, having as powerful computers and researching methods as we have on Earth on Moon would be beneficial indeed.
[QUOTE=smurfy;37884430]I dunno, ping would be 2000+[/QUOTE]
Sounds like a perfectly normal gmod server for me :v:
[QUOTE=smurfy;37884430]I dunno, ping would be 2000+[/QUOTE]
13 year old people would still play it simple because its on the moon
[QUOTE=ASmellyOgre;37884249]rover races piloted by NASCAR drivers.[/QUOTE]
[img]http://imgkk.com/i/ykmo.jpg[/img]
my body is ready
[url]http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/UNC:_Rogue_VI[/url]
this will happen
I never thought of it that way, the dark side of the moon being the only place humans can reach where there are no radio or satellite waves from earth being transmitted. There should be an observatory there.
Would there be people stationed in this massive lunar server room? Sounds like the dream IT job.
Oh neat, just as I'm reading "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" in which a supercomputer on the moon is one of the central parts of the story.
[QUOTE=latin_geek;37885062]Would there be people stationed in this massive lunar server room? Sounds like the dream IT job.[/QUOTE]
Dream IT job until something goes horribly wrong. Plus, other than wandering about on the lunar regolith, there's not a whole lot to do there.
I wouldn't mind being the network admin of the moon base super computer outpost...
[QUOTE=Neo Kabuto;37885210]Dream IT job until something goes horribly wrong. Plus, other than wandering about on the lunar regolith, there's not a whole lot to do there.[/QUOTE]
What could possibly go wrong? That, when built, would probably be one of the safest places a human can be in. And if there are shifts just like in space stations and some maintenance is required outside of it, I'd say it'd take a while for a view like that or moonwalks to get boring.
[QUOTE=latin_geek;37885440]What could possibly go wrong? That, when built, would probably be one of the safest places a human can be in. And if there are shifts just like in space stations and some maintenance is required outside of it, I'd say it'd take a while for a view like that or moonwalks to get boring.[/QUOTE]
I wouldn't be so sure, humans haven't exactly built any self-sufficient space settlements yet.
They're reliant on shipments of food, etc from earth.
Four billion wordwide population - all living - have a Computer God Containment Policy Brain Bank Brain, a [I]real[/I] brain, in the Brain Bank Cities on the far side of the moon we never see. Primarily based on your lifelong Frankenstein Radio Controls, especially your Eyesight TV sight-and-sound recorded by your brain, your moon-brain of the Computer God activates your Frankenstein threshold Brain-wash Radio - lifelong inculcating conformist propaganda. Even frightening you and mixing you up and the usual[I] "Don't worry about it"[/I] for your setbacks, mistakes - even when you receive[I] deadly injuries![/I]
([URL="http://www.bentoandstarchky.com/dec/containmentpolicy.htm"]Francis E. Dec was right[/URL])
[QUOTE=latin_geek;37885440]What could possibly go wrong? That, when built, would probably be one of the safest places a human can be in. And if there are shifts just like in space stations and some maintenance is required outside of it, I'd say it'd take a while for a view like that or moonwalks to get boring.[/QUOTE]
I guess in the worst case scenario (everything is failing for whatever reason, shipments won't be there for months), they probably would have some sort of shuttle the crew could take to either another moon base or Earth.
[QUOTE=Neo Kabuto;37885527]I guess in the worst case scenario (everything is failing for whatever reason, shipments won't be there for months), they probably would have some sort of shuttle the crew could take to either another moon base or Earth.[/QUOTE]
Also it'd probably be run on a skeleton crew (no strippers or anything like that) so social interaction would be very little.
Have that one crew running the entire datacenter/settlement and you've got a shitload of work and not a lot of fun.
Sure it's on the moon but I don't see it being a very "interesting" job.
I've never heard of an interesting big networking job on earth, the interesting part in most is how big the supercomputer cluster is.
The interesting part here is [I]entirely[/I] "we're running a datacentre on the dark side of the fuckin' moon" and I can bet that's enough to get a few IT engineers excited.
Martians will get to play Crysis aswell!
[QUOTE=latin_geek;37885722]I've never heard of an interesting big networking job on earth, the interesting part in most is how big the supercomputer cluster is.
The interesting part here is [I]entirely[/I] "we're running a datacentre on the dark side of the fuckin' moon" and I can bet that's enough to get a few IT engineers excited.[/QUOTE]
Imagine that on your resume.
"Has worked on NASA supercomputer hub in the Moon."
Enjoy your new job and instant promotion.
[QUOTE=Neo Kabuto;37885527]I guess in the worst case scenario (everything is failing for whatever reason, shipments won't be there for months), they probably would have some sort of shuttle the crew could take to either another moon base or Earth.[/QUOTE]
Well if we had any kind of settlement on the moon I'd guess we would have an emergency rescue team on standby at all times on earth. It only takes a few days to get to the Moon. If the moon base had some sort of panic shelter that had air, food, and first aid supplies that could last a few weeks, it wouldn't really be more difficult than rescuing those Chilean Miners a few years ago.
All you would need would be a rocket/shuttle on standby in a hanger near the launch complex with a few crews on alert similar to firemen. You get the call and you head to the launch site, by the time you get there the ground crew has it ready to go within a few hours.
Now, this is assuming that if we have the ability to make and pay for a fully self sustained moon base, that would would have the ability to make and pay for a rocket to be ready to launch within a few hours notice.
[editline]2nd October 2012[/editline]
Or you could just put an emergency escape rocket/shuttle on the moon base. Though I don't think having an earth based team would hurt anything. Better safe than sorry.
Yeah if the thing is expensive enough then filters for water, o2 and a hydroponic farm wouldn't be too hard to install, but this deviates from the idea of a moon base with the sole purpose of being a datacenter and into "permanent manned moonbase with a datacentre"
It COULD be built to be self sustaining but that's probably not the purpose of this.
Since we're talking about an IT crew then a room with a few gallons of water and a couple shipments of calorie-mate would be enough :v:
[QUOTE=latin_geek;37885062]I never thought of it that way, the dark side of the moon being the only place humans can reach where there are no radio or satellite waves from earth being transmitted. There should be an observatory there.
Would there be people stationed in this massive lunar server room? Sounds like the dream IT job.[/QUOTE]
Sounds lonely as fuck also, depending on how many people are there.
[QUOTE=I_Forgot;37885179]Oh neat, just as I'm reading "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" in which a supercomputer on the moon is one of the central parts of the story.[/QUOTE]
Love that book. But let's hope that [sp]America doesn't get really pissed at it and nuke it.[/sp]
[QUOTE=supersnail11;37887112]Love that book. But let's hope that [sp]America doesn't get really pissed at it and nuke it.[/sp][/QUOTE]
that makes me wonder, do our current nukes actually have enough propellant to hit the moon?
[QUOTE=trotskygrad;37887174]that makes me wonder, do our current nukes actually have enough propellant to hit the moon?[/QUOTE]
Probably not, but the Air Force wanted to [URL=http://web.archive.org/web/20030513024655/http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a391ef3e22e19.htm]nuke the Moon in a show of force against the USSR.[/URL] I'd assume they could load some warheads on other rockets capable of it, but we can't just launch nukes out of silos at the moon.
[QUOTE=trotskygrad;37885480]I wouldn't be so sure, humans haven't exactly built any self-sufficient space settlements yet.
They're reliant on shipments of food, etc from earth.[/QUOTE]
With my huge knowledge of nothing I'm assuming that our tiny space stations are too small to support self-sufficiency. Building huge hydroponics systems on the moon would be relatively easy, not taking into account initial materials transport.
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