Re: Apollo Guidance Computer
The same thing is true now. Space qualified semiconductors, which are:
1. Capable of handling launch loads, including 1000g shocks when explosive bolts are fired.
2. Are hermetic, so they neither outgas or explode when transitioning from earth to vacuum
3. Can handle the continuous ionising radiation load.
4. Are latch up free - so when hit by a gamma ray photon or high energy electron. In fact they have to be double latch-up free. So when hit twice in rapid succession they do not latch up.
100%. For years. No service visits possible. And redundancy is helpful, but not a panacea. It adds weight, which is expensive (about 2 million of most currencies per added kg).
From design to launch is typically ten years, and for interplanetary spacecraft many years thereafter. So all the superb images you see from Jupiter and Saturn are with twenty year old technology. That is just the way it is.
Craig
|