About the Rocket HPC service

Rocket is Newcastle University's institution-wide HPC (high performance computing) service.  

Rocket is open to anyone at the University whose computations can be run on linux and are too large, long or numerous to be accommodated on a single desktop machine. 

It is free at the point of use but projects with HPC funding will be given enhanced access.  

The Hardware Summary page descibes the physical cluster. 

In order to use Rocket, you will need to be a member of at least one registered HPC project.  Project members are automatically given a Rocket account.

Please get in touch  if you want to know anything about the Rocket service that is not on these pages.    For information on other related resources, please see the Research Computing page.

Information for Rocket account holders

Please read the Rocket Code of Conduct before you use Rocket.

If you are new to HPC, book a place on the Introduction to HPC course  or get in touch with the Rocket team.  You will need a working knowledge of command-line linux, e.g. from the Introduction to Linux course.

If you have used an HPC service before, try the Quick-Start page.

• Sample job scripts
• Troubleshooting hints

Why "Rocket"?

Rocket is named in honour of the iconic Rocket steam locomotive, which was designed by local engineers George and Robert Stephenson, and built in Newcastle.  That Rocket was designed for speed and brought together a number of separate innovations, winning the Rainhill speed trials in 1829 and setting the template for future steam locomotive designs.   George Stephenson's birthplace in the Tyne Valley is now in the care of the National Trust.  The Rocket locomotive was brought to Newcastle in 2018 for the Great Exhibition of the North and is normally on display in the Science Museum in London.