An iMac on Mars!

Not exactly. The recent probe Perseverance utilizes what was state-0f-the-art in the first iMac in 1998, the G3 processor with its blazing speed of 233 MHz (most processors are in the single-digit GHz range or at least a thousand times faster). No luck getting NASA to color the probe bondi blue or the other cool colors Apple rolled out later.

Years ago I once asked, why the heck isn’t NASA using contemporary processors when they had a chance to update Hubble and went with an Intel 386? Older designs are easier (or more successfully) hardened against the nasty conditions outside Earth’s atmosphere. Mars has only one percent of the atmosphere we have so radiation has nothing to stop it if you’re on the surface. So your brand new iPad or slick portable will be transformed into a doorstop within a few seconds on the ISS and don’t even think about it surviving the trip to the red planet. This will also pose a huge problem when we start getting closer to people landing on Mars. How will they explore, return safely and not die of cancer in a few years.

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