Archive · 30 Jan 2026
NASA Launches Athena Supercomputer for Artemis II
NASA has introduced a new supercomputer named Athena, which is the fastest one they have ever made.
It will help scientists and engineers prepare for the Artemis II mission, which is a trip around the Moon.
Athena can do more than 20 quadrillion calculations every second.
It has a lot of tiny computer parts called cores, which work together to make it very powerful.
The name Athena was chosen by NASA employees in a contest, and it comes from Greek mythology.
This supercomputer will help NASA plan and make sure the mission is safe before astronauts go on their journey.
Athena is also designed to be energy-efficient, which means it uses less power and stays cooler, saving money for other important projects.
Scientists both inside and outside NASA can use Athena to study space and make new discoveries.
NASA unveiled Athena, its most powerful supercomputer, to support the Artemis II mission and advanced space research.
Athena was released for operational use on January 14, 2026, and is located in California.
The supercomputer consists of 1,024 nodes, each with two 128-core AMD EPYC 'Turin' processors, totaling over 264,000 cores.
At peak performance, Athena can deliver over 20 petaflops, performing more than 20 quadrillion calculations per second.
The name Athena was chosen through an internal NASA contest and is inspired by Greek mythology.
- Who
- NASA
- What
- Launched Athena, its most powerful supercomputer
- When
- January 14, 2026
- Where
- NASA Advanced Supercomputing facility in California
- Why
- To support the Artemis II mission and advanced space research with high-performance computing
- Supercomputer Name
- Athena
- Release Date
- January 14, 2026
- Computing Nodes
- 1,024
- Processors per Node
- Two 128-core AMD EPYC 'Turin' processors
- Total Cores
- 264,000
- Peak Performance
- Over 20 petaflops
- Facility
- NASA Advanced Supercomputing facility
- Location
- California
- Primary Use
- Support Artemis II mission and advanced space research
Sources
Athena: Inside Nasa’s fastest-ever supercomputer powering Artemis II
NASA Introduces Athena: A Supercomputer That Cracks In One Day What A Typical PC Would Take 500 Years To Finish
NASA Unveils ‘Athena’ Supercomputer to Power Next-Generation Space Exploration