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Orion Capsule Safely Recovered, Complete With 12-Year-Old Computer Guts

Posted by timothy on from the why-that's-barely-a-dozen dept.

Lucas123 writes While NASA's Orion spacecraft, which blasted off on a successful test flight today, may be preparing for a first-of-its-kind mission to carry astronauts to Mars and other deep-space missions, the technology inside of it is no where near leading edge. In fact, its computers and its processors are 12 years old — making them ancient in tech years. The spacecraft, according to one NASA engineer, is built to be rugged and reliable in the face of G forces, massive amounts of radiation and the other rigors of space."Compared to the [Intel] Core i5 in your laptop, it's much slower — much less powerful. It's probably not any faster than your smartphone," Matt Lemke, NASA's deputy manager for Orion's avionics, power and software team, told Computerworld. Lemke said the spacecraft was built to be rugged and reliable — not necessarily smart. That's why there are two flight computers. Orion's main computer was built by Honeywell as a flight computer originally for Boeing's 787 jet airliner. Not only was the launch itself successful, but the sensor-laden craft's splashdown was smooth ("bulls-eye," as NASA puts it), and NASA has now recovered the capsule. ABC News has some good photos, too.

2 of 197 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Probably not by clovis · · Score: 5, Informative

    In fact, its computers and its processors are 12 years old

    They word it like NASA is dumpster diving for its flight computers these days. The CPU may be from what was new 12 years ago, but I seriously doubt the physical unit is actually 12 years old.

    It's also hardened against radiation. I would be willing to bet that any processor in these systems will still be functional long after most newfangled home CPUs are long dead. These flight computers will be remain functional in an extremely harsh environment longer than any home CPU would last. Even with how pampered home processors are in comparison.

    If those old computers were any good, then the Voyagers would still be working.
    Oh wait ...
    http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/

  2. Operating System by MrEcho.net · · Score: 5, Informative

    Looks like they are using an RTOS that is commonly used.

    http://www.ghs.com/customers/n...

    Pretty cool system