FAA Selects Elliptical Mobile Solutions’ Data Center for Commercial Space Travel Research
Science fiction enthusiasts’ dream of commercial space travel is a little closer to becoming a reality thanks to the R.A.S.E.R. HD Micro-Modular Data Center, designed by Elliptical Mobile Solutions (EMS).
As commercial aviation companies prepare to usher in an age of space tourism, there remain a number of challenges, according to a case study prepared by EMS Channel Partner, Nor-Tech. Regulatory bodies such as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) must conduct extensive research and collect data to establish safeguards for the emerging industry. One area of concern is the amount of radiation passengers and crew will be subjected to as they reach altitudes up to 100 km above Earth.
In order to conduct radiation propagation studies, the medical research arm of the FAA required a High Performance Computing (HPC) solution that could function securely in the field, outside of the data center and in varying physical conditions. Due to security concerns pertaining to the work being done on this Super Computer system, it was required that the system not be connected to the Internet, according to the case study.
Nor-Tech was selected by the FAA to develop an HPC solution to conduct its research, due to its extensive experience and innovation in the field of portable and ruggedized clusters. Additionally, Nor-tech’s proposal was the only one among the major Tier 1 manufacturers that came close to the FAA’s budgeted price for the solution.
Through a two-and-a-half year collaboration with the FAA’s medical doctors, physicists and engineers, Nor-Tech designed a portable data center with an emphasis on reliability, security, storage capacity and rack density. This was accomplished using the R.A.S.E.R. HD, populated with a cluster of Intel XEON processors and Seagate Constellation series disk drives.
According to Dom Daninger, Nor-Techs’s VP of Engineering, “A unique requirement for this project was the high density of computing that was needed due to limited deployment space. EMS assisted Nor-Tech with the design of the R.A.S.E.R. HD cabinets which can handle up to 80KW of power for each 42U enclosure. This gives Nor-Tech an unprecedented density of computing. The enclosure’s robust liquid cooling system allows it to be completely sealed without the risk of overheating.”
“We are pleased to have been selected by the FAA and Nor-Tech to be a part of this groundbreaking research study,” said Tony Cole. “At EMS we are always pushing the boundaries to develop data center solutions that save money, time, energy and space. Commercial space travel research is just one more boundary we look forward to advancing.”
ABOUT EMS
Since its founding in 2005, Elliptical Mobile Solutions has reinvented the data center industry using cost-effectiveness, energy efficiency and high availability as its guiding principles. Today, EMS has Micro-Modular Data Centers in the United States, Canada, England, South Korea, Vietnam, India, Malaysia, Japan, Singapore, Australia, Nigeria, and South Africa.
