Because the ISS sits outside the majority of Earth’s protective atmosphere, it’s exposed to more radiation - from solar flares and cosmic rays that originate outside the Solar System. The space station’s location in lower Earth orbit makes it an unfriendly place for computers. If successful, similar computers could be critical tools for future deep-space missions beyond Earth. Called the Spaceborne Computer, the system is a joint project between HPE and NASA to see if a commercial computer can be designed to last in the harsh space environment. Tomorrow, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is set to launch another batch of cargo and science experiments to the International Space Station, and that shipment will include a supercomputer from Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
