Although last February NASA managed to bring its Perseverance rover to the surface of Mars, we now know that the heart of this vehicle is not technologically advanced at all, and it is now known that Perseverance's brain is not It's more than just a PowerPC 750 processor with a single- core @ 233 MHz configuration, which is the same processor that Apple included in its iMac G3 desktop in 1998.
This processor uses the RISC architecture, is manufactured by IBM and Motorola to a 250nm manufacturing process, and was the last processor used by Apple before it decided to partner with Intel to bring its desktop and laptop computers to life.
The reason for using this old processor is sure that you already know it, and it is because it withstands radiation and extreme temperatures much better than the most modern processors on the market. These processors withstand between 200,000 and 1,000,000 radios and temperatures between -55 and 125ºC, so there is nothing more reliable to send into space.
"A charged particle passing through the galaxy can pass through a device and wreak havoc," explains James LaRosa of BAE Systems to Newscientist. "It can literally give off electrons; it can cause electronic noise and signal spikes within the circuit."
"Compared to the Intel Core i5 in your laptop, it's much slower ... it's probably not faster than your smartphone," said Matt Lemke, NASA's deputy director for Orion avionics. "But it's not so much about speed as it is about robustness and reliability. I have to make sure that it will always work."
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