The Adastra supercomputer, the most powerful calculating machine in France, inaugurated in Montpellier

Adastra, the most powerful calculating machine in France, was inaugurated this Thursday in Montpellier, reports France Bleu Hérault. This supercomputer, installed at the National Computer Center for Higher Education (Cines) in Montpellier, can process 75 million billion operations per second and should enable major advances in health and the climate. It is the most powerful supercomputer in the country and the 11th internationally.

This machine, whose name comes from the Latin phrase “Per aspera ad astra”which means “by arduous paths to the stars”, was built in the United States and the Czech Republic. It should attract researchers from all over France and Europe to the Cines de Montpellier, which is located on the Saint-Priest university campus and which has housed computers for more than 40 years.

A cost of 30 million euros

Among its missions, in particular, is to refine the weather forecasts for the coming decades and thus anticipate the next droughts. Another mission is to train artificial intelligence models that will facilitate doctors’ decisions regarding medical imaging for cancer patients or tumor patients. Adastra cost 30 million euros and was financed by the public body of the Large national intensive computing equipment (Genci), which depends in particular on the Ministry of Research.