NASA has agreed to install a $15 million computer at one of its facilities. The device uses "quantum physics" effects to reach unparalleled levels of computing.
The machine is reportedly 3,600 times faster than conventional computers. This is due to the D-Wave Two processor, which makes use of a technology known as quantum tunneling. This effect allows the computer to try all possible solutions of a request at the same time and select the most efficient, enabling it to solve certain mathematical problems in just a fraction of a second.
This move is not without controversy though. The company that manufactures this computer, D-Wave Systems, has been the subject of much skepticism from many leading quantum computing experts. Research conducted earlier this year seemed to verify D-Wave's statistics though.
Additionally, a paper published earlier this week based on benchmarking tests by NASA and Google verified D-Wave's speed. In one reported case, it took less than half a second to calculate something that an alternate software would've needed 30 minutes for.
D-Wave's approach has been to focus on an effect known as quantum annealing, a method by which their machines can find the optimal solution from all of the possibilities. This is made possible by quantum tunneling, which gives each basic units of quantum information (quantum bits or qubits) awareness of all the others.
An example of a function of the computer is a "traveling sales rep" who needs to visit several cities in one day and wants to find the shortest path that connects them all. D-Wave's computer would be able to calculate every possible route simultaneously, instead of trying each of them one at a time.
The new computer will be jointly utilized by NASA, Google, and other scientists including university researchers through the Universities Space Research Agency (USRA). NASA will most likely utilize the computer for scheduling and planning.
It will be housed in a NASA facility that cools the chip to almost absolute zero, and will reportedly be available for research by the fall.