Cluster (spacecraft)

Cluster was a constellation of four European Space Agency spacecraft which were launched on the maiden flight of the Ariane 5 rocket, Flight 501, and subsequently lost when that rocket failed to achieve orbit. The launch, which took place on Tuesday, 4 June 1996, ended in failure due to an error in the software design caused by assertions having been turned off, which in turn caused inadequate protection from integer overflow. This resulted in the rocket veering off its flight path 37 seconds after launch, beginning to disintegrate under high aerodynamic forces, and finally self-destructing by its automated flight termination system. The failure has become known as one of the most infamous and expensive software bugs in history. The failure resulted in a loss of more than US$370 million.

Spacecraft

Cluster consisted of four 1,200 kilograms (2,600 lb) cylindrical, spin-stabilised spacecraft, powered by 224 watt solar cells. The spacecraft were to have flown in a tetrahedral formation, and were intended to conduct research into the Earth's magnetosphere. The satellites would have been placed into highly elliptical orbits; 17,200 by 120,600 kilometres (10,700 by 74,900 mi), inclined at 90 degrees to the equator.

Cluster

Cluster may refer to:

Science

Astrophysics

Ben Bu Şarkıyı Sana Yazdım

Ben Bu Şarkıyı Sana Yazdım (I Wrote This Song for You) is the first album by Cem Adrian. It was released on February 14, 2005 by Imaj Music.

Track listing

Computer cluster

A computer cluster consists of a set of loosely or tightly connected computers that work together so that, in many respects, they can be viewed as a single system. Unlike grid computers, computer clusters have each node set to perform the same task, controlled and scheduled by software.

The components of a cluster are usually connected to each other through fast local area networks ("LAN"), with each node (computer used as a server) running its own instance of an operating system. In most circumstances, all of the nodes use the same hardware and the same operating system, although in some setups (i.e. using Open Source Cluster Application Resources (OSCAR)), different operating systems can be used on each computer, and/or different hardware.

They are usually deployed to improve performance and availability over that of a single computer, while typically being much more cost-effective than single computers of comparable speed or availability.

Computer clusters emerged as a result of convergence of a number of computing trends including the availability of low-cost microprocessors, high speed networks, and software for high-performance distributed computing. They have a wide range of applicability and deployment, ranging from small business clusters with a handful of nodes to some of the fastest supercomputers in the world such as IBM's Sequoia. The applications that can be done however, are nonetheless limited, since the software needs to be purpose-built per task. It is hence not possible to use computer clusters for casual computing tasks.