The IT behind Mars Science Laboratory's landing of the Curiosity rover

Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s (JPL) Dell HPC clusters, Galaxy and Nebula, assisted NASA in analysing data from the mission which in turn ensured that the landing on Mars was successfully completed.

Data was analysed by two NASA High Performance Computing (HPC) clusters running Dell PowerEdge servers. This data was needed to prepare the rover for entering the planet’s atmosphere and landing safely. The final landing sequence parameters developed by the mission team, which was tested and validated using the Dell HPC clusters, were uploaded last week to Curiosity.