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Hubble Repairs Hindered By Antiquated Computer Systems
Andrew Moseman writes "Part of the trouble NASA is encountering while fixing the Hubble Space Telescope comes from the fact that it's been up there for nearly two decades, and therefore carries computer systems long outdated here on Earth. 'One of the main computers that the Goddard team has been struggling with during the repair attempts runs on an Intel 486 chip, the height of 1989 technology.' Many of NASA's long-running missions rely on antiquated systems — the Voyager probes each have about 32k of memory — but the scientists say they can manage."
They need to have the chips hardened for radiation. I'm not sure what the process entails, but they don't seem to do it with chips younger than 10 years or so. /. did a pretty good article on this awhile back I think.
I actually don't think you can realistically shield effectively against some types of high energy particles. Nuclear reactors use 6 ft of concrete to shield against neutrons. There's higher energy particles than neutrons in space. I'm sure that external shielding plays a large role in it, but there's probably more to it. The wikipedia article on radiation hardening is actually very good. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Radiation_hardening&oldid=235697687