Feature Articles

You may have flown a flight simulator in a computer game or at a science museum. Landing without crashing is always the hardest part. But that’s nothing compared to the challenge that engineers are facing to develop a flight simulation of the very large vehicles necessary for humans to explore the surface of Mars. The Red Planet poses innumerable challenges to astronauts, not the least of which is getting there. That’s where the Department of Energy Office of Science’s user facility supercomputers come in. Researchers at DOE’s Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) are working with NASA engineers and scientists to simulate the process of slowing down a huge spacecraft as it moves towards Mars’ surface.

The Neutron Scattering Society of America, or NSSA, recognized Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Ke An and Ken Herwig as fellows for their outstanding contributions to neutron scattering.

Argonne National Laboratory and RIKEN, leaders in high performance computing in the U.S. and Japan, have established a cooperative relationship in support of artificial intelligence computing projects.

The Quantum Systems Accelerator (QSA), recently launched the “You Belong in Quantum Series!” in collaboration with the four other U.S. Department of Energy National QIS Research Centers. The initiative’s January 2024 webinar featured distinguished leaders in the field. The new series highlights QSA’s commitment to preparing the quantum workforce ahead of World Quantum Day on April 14.

João Barata, a physicist in the Nuclear Theory Group at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, has received a fellowship at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. In October 2024, Barata will begin the three-year-long appointment in CERN’s Department of Theoretical Physics.

Amanda Petford-Long, director of the Materials Science division at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory and an Argonne Distinguished Fellow, was recognized by a preeminent materials science society.

A new look at a carbon capture solvent shows clusters and new types of carbon dioxide chemistry that could double carbon conversion.

Creating multiple universes to see how they run might be tempting to scientists, but it’s obviously not possible. That is, as long as you need physical universes. If you can make do with virtual ones, there are far more options. Cosmologists supported by the Department of Energy’s Office of Science are developing computer simulations of the universe designed to run on exascale computers. These models are leveraging these supercomputers to provide new insights into our universe’s past and present.