techspot NASA's Mars Perseverance rover uses the same CPU as Apple's iMac from 1998

[UltraMega]

Quote

When the space agency’s Mars Perseverance rover touched down on the surface of the Red Planet last month, it did so with a modified PowerPC 750 processor on board. If you recall, that’s the same chip that came equipped in Apple’s iconic iMac G3 way back in 1998.

 

Why outfit the rover with a CPU that is over two decades old? Because it has to work, that’s why.

 

The processor inside the Perseverance rover is a RAD750, a radiation-hardened variant of the PowerPC 750 that is made by BAE Systems. It packs just 10.4 million transistors and operates at up to 200MHz. Critically, it can withstand up to a million rads of radiation and operating temperatures between -55C and 125C.

Source: https://www.techspot.com/news/88796-nasa-mars-perseverance-rover-powered-processor-1998.html

 

IIRC the voyager spacecrafts use a very similar CPU to the PlayStation 1.

 

 

[Sir Beregond]

15 minutes ago, UltraMega said:

Source: https://www.techspot.com/news/88796-nasa-mars-perseverance-rover-powered-processor-1998.html

 

IIRC the voyager spacecrafts use a very similar CPU to the PlayStation 1.

 

 

Weren't they launched in 1977 and the Playstation in the 90s?

 

Anyway, very interesting they'd use an old processor like that.

Edited March 2, 2021 by Sir Beregond

[UltraMega]

39 minutes ago, Sir Beregond said:

Weren't they launched in 1977 and the Playstation in the 90s?

 

Anyway, very interesting they'd use an old processor like that.

oh... good point. I looked it up, it was the New Horizons (Pluto mission) that used the PS1 CPU.