A computer program known as “PyPele,” originally written as a Python-language extension module of a C++ language program, has been rewritten in pure Python language. The original version of PyPele dispatches and coordinates parallel- processing tasks on cluster computers and provides a conceptual framework for spacecraft-mission- design and -analysis software tools to run in an embarrassingly parallel mode. The original version of PyPele uses SSH (Secure Shell — a set of standards and an associated network protocol for establishing a secure channel between a local and a remote computer) to coordinate parallel processing. Instead of SSH, the present Python version of PyPele uses Message Passing Interface (MPI) [an unofficial de-facto standard language-independent application programming interface for message-passing on a parallel computer] while keeping the same user interface.

The use of MPI instead of SSH and the preservation of the original PyPele user interface make it possible for parallel application programs written previously for the original version of PyPele to run on MPI-based cluster computers. As a result, engineers using the previously written application programs can take advantage of embarrassing parallelism without need to rewrite those programs.

This program was written by George Hockney and Seungwon Lee of Caltech for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

This software is available for commercial licensing. Please contact Karina Edmonds of the California Institute of Technology at (626) 395-2322. Refer to NPO-44729.