Why does curiosity have special microchips

The new flight software was uplinked to Curiosity while the spacecraft was on the way to Mars. Starting late Friday, engineers will begin installing the R10 update in stepwise fashion, first on one computer and then on the other, testing as they go along to make sure all is well. Curiosity is a "martian megarover," Cichy said. So the R10 software gives us the autonomous driving capability, the ability for the rover to drive using on-board images to detect hazards that are around the rover and to drive safely across the surface of Mars.

The rover is equipped with two computers, but only one is active at a time. Each computer is equipped with 2 gigabytes of flash memory, megabytes of random access memory and kilobytes of erasable programmable read-only memory. While their technical specifications appear to lag well behind the chips used in readily available consumer electronics, those devices don't require anywhere near the rigorous design work, testing and qualification that goes into a space-rated processor.

Then once that board gets integrated into the satellite at the system level, there's several years worth of qualification testing that goes in at the satellite level. Buy Now. Continue Shopping Go to Cart. Conformity Documents. Privacy Policy. Stay on the leading edge with our blog. This website uses cookies for analytics, personalization, and other purposes. Click to learn more. A close-up view of a microchip with 1. Engineers etched the names onto a silicon wafer or microchip.

They used an electron beam "E-beam" machine at JPL that specializes in etching very tiny features less than 1 micron, or less than the width of a human hair! July 24, A close-up view of a microchip with 1. Transporting the Curiosity rover from its birthplace in Pasadena, California to Cape Canaveral, Florida, took countless hours and careful planning and preparation. The precious rover was placed ont Olivine on Earth. Our Curiosity development boards are cost-effective, fully integrated microcontroller MCU development platforms targeted at first-time users, makers and anyone seeking a feature-rich rapid prototyping board.

They are the perfect platform to harness the power of our 8-, and bit MCUs. All rights reserved. We detect you are using an unsupported browser. For the best experience, please visit the site using Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge.

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