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microprocessors used in spacecrafts
Revision as of 01:00, 8 February 2014 by 65.78.114.251 (talk) (1960s)

Over the years various microprocessors have been used in many different spacecrafts. Microprocessors are used in spacecrafts are designed to be exceptionally reliable and highly durable. Because of that, often the same set of chips that have been tested and proven to work are used in many spacecrafts. Below is a list of microprocessors used in spacecrafts.

1960s

Year Picture Spacecraft Description
1959-1963 200px Mercury spacecraft The Mercury spacecraft, NASA's first human spaceflight, had barely enough space for a single occupant. The spacecraft had no independent maneuvering capabilities - relying completely on the Atlas booster rocket. Because of that, it was unnecessary for the spacecraft to have a dedicated on-board computer. Limited functionality was done by various smaller systems.
1962-1966 Gemini spacecraft.jpg Gemini Spacecraft The Gemini Spacecraft, part of Project Gemini, NASA's second human spaceflight program, that ran from 1965-1966, carried an on-board digital computer called the Gemini Guidance Computer. The computer, which weighted fifty pounds and measured nineteen inches long, had about 19.5KB of memory.
1961-1972 Apollo CSM lunar orbit.jpg Apollo spacecraft The Apollo spacecraft, part of the Apollo program, NASA's third human spaceflight program, that ran from 1961 to 1972, carried an on-board digital computer called the Apollo Guidance Computer. The 16-bit computer weighted 70 pounds and consumed 55W had a clock speed of 2.048 MHz.

1970s

Year Picture Spacecraft Description
1971 Pioneer 10-11 spacecraft.jpg Pioneer 10 The Pioneer 10, which was launched on March 3, 1972, became the first spacecraft to achieve escape velocity from the Solar System. The spacecraft's process were made of individual transistor-transistor logic chips. A common myth is that the Intel 4004 powered the Pioneer 10, this, however, incorrect.
1973 Pioneer 11 The Pioneer 11, was launched on April 6, 1973 in order to study the Asteroid belt. Just like it's twin prob, the Pioneer 10, its CPU was also a custom-designed TTL CPU.
Skylab (SL-4).jpg Skylab The Skylab, which was launched on May 14, 1973, and operated until 1979, used an IBM System/4Pi model TC-1 (Tactical Computer), a miniaturized and hardened version of the IBM System/360 computers.
1975 Viking spacecraft.jpg Viking 1 The Viking 1, the first of two spacecrafts, was launched on August 20, 1975. The Viking 2, was launched a litter later on September 9, 1975 The computer on-board the Viking Orbiter was the Viking Orbiter CCS, a custom 18-bit TTL computer designed by General Electric. The lander computers, the Guidance, Control and Sequencing Computer, used two Honeywell HDC 402 microprocessors.
Viking 2