12/03/2025
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The European Space Agency has unveiled the ESA Space HPC, a new resource for space in Europe. ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher was joined by ESA Council Chair Renato Krpoun and ASI president Teodoro Valente to cut the ribbon at ESA’s establishment in Italy, ESRIN.
The high-performance computing (HPC) environment will be available for scientific research and technological development activities, supporting all ESA programmes as well as the researchers and small- and medium-enterprises from Member States. The idea is to use Space HPC as a demonstrator to raise use of high-performance computing in the European space sector, leading to use of larger national and EuroHPCs in the future.
In a message highlighting the event the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy Antonio Tajani said: “Technological innovation in the space sector is a priority for our security and for our strategic autonomy, but also for the competitiveness of our industry.” He added that the Lazio aerospace district is home to more than 250 companies working in the fields of avionics, electronics, advanced radar systems, components, micro and nano satellites, innovative materials and satellite services.
ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher said that Space HPC would open up new opportunities for space businesses in Europe: “With this new facility, ESA is providing a flexible supercomputing infrastructure in support of R&D, testing and rapid benchmarking for ESA programmes, industrial players and researchers. Among others, SMEs, startups and the Philabs will be able to access resources that promote innovation and collaboration in the European space industry.
“The Space HPC provides a critical infrastructure to power the connected digital economy in support of the European Green Deal and Digital Agenda. ESA remains at the service of the space community in its quest to become more agile and effective, keeping European citizens at the very heart of the work it does.”
ESA Council Chair Renato Krpoun added that Space HPC showed not only what the Member States can bring to ESA, but what ESA can bring to the Member States.
ESA Director of Earth Observation Programmes, Simonetta Cheli, who also heads the establishment at ESRIN said: “Earth observation as the largest programme of ESA is naturally a key actor in the HPC domain, with strong impact on Earth observation data management and the development of novel applications and services. This symbiotic relationship is aided by the proximity to the Earth observation data here at ESRIN.
Space HPC will support activities such as complex and dynamic simulations, research and development work including engineering simulations and testing, computations such as AI models, data analytics and visualisations, and a range of other experiments to help de-risk future space projects. Bringing these activities into ESA will be more cost-effective than hiring high-performance computing services for each project, and also offers the possibilities of knowledge sharing across ESA programmes. It is also seen as a stepping-stone towards future quantum computing.
High-performance computing can be demanding on energy supplies. To maintain sustainable operations, the Space HPC has been developed to be as efficient as possible, using solar power generated onsite for more than half of its electricity needs. Space HPC is delivered in partnership with Hewlett Packard Enterprises.