You may already know about NASA’s Orion spacecraft, which took its first flight test Friday. While the initial test was a big step, Orion has even bigger plans for future missions – the spacecraft is designed to eventually take astronauts on deep space missions.
It would be reasonable to expect such an ambitious spacecraft to have the latest and greatest tech, but that’s not exactly the case. As Computerworld points out, NASA has been using the processor that’s on-board this craft for more than a decade.
It’s the processor’s unique resistance to radiation that makes it a great candidate for the mission despite its relative age.
This means there’s a good chance that the device you’re reading this on is more powerful than the processor aboard Orion! For more on this story, check out the full article.
Source: Computerworld
On the other hand, the SpaceX Dragon Rider is state of the art.
Some businesses are willing to take chances on new designs and government isn’t.