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

[UltraMega]

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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.

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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]

  On 02/03/2021 at 19:33, 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.

 

 

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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]

  On 02/03/2021 at 19:48, 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.

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