Radiation proofed Macs In Space and on Mars

[srobert]

Swell

That's what is driving the 2 rovers.

—> Link to the Whole Article <—

"This has become a real workhorse for space missions," Scuderi said. "We currently have about 150 of these [computers] in space today."

RAD6000 microprocessors are radiation-hardened versions of the PowerPC chips that powered Macintosh (news - web sites) computers in the early 1990s, with 128 megabytes of random access memory (RAM) and capable of carrying out about 20 million instructions per second. A critical feature of the spaceworthy chips_-- developed jointly by BAE systems, JPL and the Air Force Research Laboratory_-- is the radiation shielding, which uses a series of resistors and capacitors to ground harmful radiation before it can damage onboard electronics.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

And in about 10 years they'll get a Rad G5 up in space

Scary how much of difference in processing it has to be. The Rad 750 is the next generation and it should be replacing all the 6000 soon enough.

D

 

[virividox]

yeah woo hooo!!! whos processor in in space!!! ehee

 

[IEatApples]

Originally posted by Mr. Anderson
And in about 10 years they'll get a Rad G5 up in space

Scary how much of difference in processing it has to be. The Rad 750 is the next generation and it should be replacing all the 6000 soon enough.

D

Maybe there's no point with a new processor? If they changed it, they may end up with a lot of spare time.
Just joking, but it's weird that they are not using the latest technology available?

 

[Mr. Anderson]

Originally posted by IEatApples
but it's weird that they are not using the latest technology available?

This is the latest technology available - the process to create radiation resistant processors follows the chip industry by several years - for a couple reasons, one of which is that there isn't a very high demand for these things, and that it requires a custom process to fabricate. Its not like you take a G5, wrap it in lead and call it Rad Proof

D

 

[wdlove]

Originally posted by Mr. Anderson
This is the latest technology available - the process to create radiation resistant processors follows the chip industry by several years - for a couple reasons, one of which is that there isn't a very high demand for these things, and that it requires a custom process to fabricate. Its not like you take a G5, wrap it in lead and call it Rad Proof

D

That sounds perfectly logical to me. Demand is always the prime mover in any production capacity.

I'm just very proud to know that we have 2 Mac's on Mars. Maybe they should get some advice from Apple to resurrect Spirit!

 

[Counterfit]

Originally posted by Mr. Anderson
And in about 10 years they'll get a Rad G5 up in space

Scary how much of difference in processing it has to be. The Rad 750 is the next generation and it should be replacing all the 6000 soon enough.

D

So the next one is a G3 eh? That kinda makes me a bit sad, an unmanned spacecraft will have a processor *almost* as fast as one of mine.

 

[tpjunkie]

haha yeah, "hey nasa, try hitting command-option-escape? Oh, you're not using os X? Hit interrupt!"


somehow i doubt they'd appreciate it...

 

[IEatApples]

Originally posted by wdlove
That sounds perfectly logical to me. Demand is always the prime mover in any production capacity.

I'm just very proud to know that we have 2 Mac's on Mars. Maybe they should get some advice from Apple to resurrect Spirit!

Maybe we should drink some Sprite, eat some apples and make some demands
It's sad that our research and discovery in space is halted by lack of demand.

>Thanks for the info

 

[Megaquad]

Yes but they aren't really Macs.. neither they use Mac OS. It's only a chip that was used in them once.

 

[srobert]

Originally posted by Megaquad
Yes but they aren't really Macs.. neither they use Mac OS. It's only a chip that was used in them once.

There goes all the magic

You realize that we knew that already don't you? I posted because I thought it was interesting and related nonetheless.

 

[Nermal]

Yeah, stop ruining everything, you ruiner!

 

[Les Kern]

Originally posted by Megaquad
Yes but they aren't really Macs.. neither they use Mac OS. It's only a chip that was used in them once.

True, and the article didn't even mention that the rover uses Titanium, the VERY SUBSTANCE used in my TiBook! Coooolll Maaaan!
Signed,
Re-Ruiner

 

[Megaquad]

Originally posted by srobert
You realize that we knew that already don't you? I posted because I thought it was interesting and related nonetheless.

Yeah but reality distortion field is infinite in space because there is no gravity.. lol

 

[MrMacMan]

Originally posted by Megaquad
Yes but they aren't really Macs.. neither they use Mac OS. It's only a chip that was used in them once.

Acually this was the predecessor of the PowerPC chips.

Its like... the Mac's Ancestor.

 

[Counterfit]

Originally posted by Les Kern
True, and the article didn't even mention that the rover uses Titanium, the VERY SUBSTANCE used in my TiBook! Coooolll Maaaan!
Signed,
Re-Ruiner

Heh, you should see some of the stuff used (and banned from use) in Formula 1 cars. Much more exotic than what's used in space, and über-expensive.