The glider-helicopter that flew on Mars now has the hardware of a 7-year-old smartphone

Would you expect the technology behind perseverance and simple helicopter to be the best and the latest? It is revealed that the first LG G3 or Vans Plus share the specifications with them

Introducing Ingenuity Helicopters and Qualcomm Systems | Source: Qualcomm

NASA created history this week when it was uploadedFirst successful flight Ingenuity glider helicopter on Mars – Then in February the Fortitude landed on the Red Star with the spacecraft. Yesterday, the glider-chopper completed its second flight, lasting a little over 59 seconds.

You would believe that a helicopter, which makes such history, should be equipped with the latest technology – and so on. Well, guess again.

Directly from OnePlus One to Mars

NASA’s Glider Helicopter, which completed its first 40-second flight this week – and proved that it is possible despite a very sparse environment to fly on Mars – includes some of the currently known chip companies in the smartphone sector A system of one is included – Qualcomm.

Qualcomm has developed a platform for skimmers, announced back in 2015, called the Snapdragon Flight – which allows skimmers to be controlled in real time using the company’s components. Although the platform is intended for small gliders, which will fly here – on Earth – NASA has chosen to use them to operate ingenuity remotely.

And so it was revealed that Qualcomm began collaborating with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which is responsible for the helicopter-skimmer’s flight project to bring the Snapdragon flight system – so that it would not happen in real-time But also help to control it remotely. .

So far Good, a private company that makes chips for billions of smartphones, is one of the most interesting missions in history in association with NASA. But where there is no modern technology, we have promised you? Okay, remember that Qualcomm launched its platform in 2015? So it ran on the Snapdragon 801 processor.

Which means that the Ingenuity Glider helicopter, which has made history and will give rise to future flight plans for various devices in the Martian skies in the coming years, was activated by Chip, which many of you said early 2014. I kept it in my pocket. In the legendary smartphones like OnePlus One, which is considered as the flagship the first killer. On the other hand, you can also find a chip in someone who will say that it was For LG’s latest flagship – G3 (You know that G4 was awesome AndTheir cellular division is dead) Belongs to.

The chip based on Qualcomm’s ARM architecture, which was mentioned in some very popular models 7 years ago, is at the forefront of the stage in the smartphone world for the longest time since its peak – which literally proves that “it’s not the age.” Yes, this is exercise “.

Lander and helicopter-skimmer on Mars, making history with ancient technology. Source: NASA

And what about the lander?

And if you think that a 2014 chip in a skimmer-helicopter that has made history is an ancient technology, then you would be happy to know the firmness with which the helicopter was investigated, and in which it came with “life” technology. Was, which will cause you a significant burst of gloom, not less.

The lander, which landed in Zero Crater on Mars with Ingenuity about two months ago and operates a chip to find ancient (and perhaps less ancient?) Signs of life on the red planet that you can find in 23 years? Old computer.

It is a PowerPC 750 processor with a record breaking speed – 200 MHz (we tested, there is no turbo button). The system also includes enough RAM for FIFA 98 on the computer – 256 megabytes of RAM and 2 gigabytes of storage. It is a system similar to Apple’s iMac G3, launched in 1998 – considered to be the original iMac.

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The idea behind the use of such old technology is first and foremost chips that have been proving themselves for years. Ultimately, it’s one thing to find out Serious bug in processor, Which cannot be severely repaired on Earth, and a completely different story when it is about 290 million miles from here. Furthermore, the mission’s relatively basic requirements allowed NASA engineers to settle for an experienced processor.

And open source. Lots of open source

Another interesting statistic about the technology that powers NASA’s instruments on the Red Planet is the use of open source. Nat Friedman, CEO of GitHub, Manifested Because for the software running the glider and probe, NASA used open source written by less than 12,000 developers. Most of them without knowing about it. However, the situation may change, as GitHub decided to add Working character Linux’s father, Linus Torvalds, led, unwittingly, all of Mars’s developers.

Oshry Eleselsey

Your friendly neighborhood geek. Do you have a technical story? Talk to me: [email protected]

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