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Instantaneous solution quantities shown for a static Mach 1.4 solution on a mesh consisting of 33 billion elements using 33,880 GPUs, or 90% of Frontier.  From left to right, contours show the mass fractions of the hydroxyl radical and H2O, the temperature in Kelvin, and the local Mach number. Credit: Gabriel Nastac/NASA

Since 2019, a team of NASA scientists and their partners have been using NASA’s FUN3D software on supercomputers located at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility to conduct computational fluid dynamics simulations of a human-scale Mars lander. The team’s ongoing research project is a first step in determining how to safely land a vehicle with humans onboard onto the surface of Mars.

This CyberShake Study 22.12 seismic hazard model shows the Southern California regions (in reds and yellows) expected to experience strong ground motions at least once in the next 2,500 years. Image Credit: Statewide California Earthquake Center (SCEC).

Researchers at the Statewide California Earthquake Center are unraveling the mysteries of earthquakes by using physics-based computational models running on high-performance computing systems at ORNL. The team’s findings will provide a better understanding of seismic hazards in the Golden State. 

ORNL’s Tomás Rush examines a culture as part of his research into the plant-fungus relationship that can help or hinder ecosystem health. Credit: Genevieve Martin/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

New computational framework speeds discovery of fungal metabolites, key to plant health and used in drug therapies and for other uses. 
 

Prasanna Balaprakash, who leads ORNL’s AI Initiative, participated in events hosted by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Task Force on American Innovation to discuss the challenges and opportunities posed by AI. Credit: Brian Mosley/Computing Research Association

In summer 2023, ORNL's Prasanna Balaprakash was invited to speak at a roundtable discussion focused on the importance of academic artificial intelligence research and development hosted by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the U.S. National Science Foundation.