Why does NASA use those really old computers?

Question

Some of those computers are ancient. Why not upgrade to something a little bit more modern? You'd think that they would have the top-of-the-line technology, not old clunky

Answer 1

Gwendolyn is spot on about any spaceflight computer systems. As she said, they must almost always be radiation hardened to one degree or another. This requires not only specialized design of the chips, but also the fabrication process must one that tolerates radiation. These processes are NOT ones that produce the very high density high speed devices like the processors and memories inside the computers we use every day. The devices are very expensive to fabricate, and the market for radiation hardened circuits is very limited, so there is not a lot invested in developing a new version every few years. Development and qualification of devices for space flight is a long and expensive process, and once developed such devices tend to be used for a very long time. Remember also that once the devices are developed, the development of the systems utilizing them is also a long process, much longer than for commercial products. As an example, I was involved in the development of a system called the Major Constituent Analyzer, the primary atmosphere analyzer on the U.S. side of the space station. We began development of this system in 1989, using a 25 megahertz Intel 80386/80387 combination (operated at 20 megahertz per NASA derating rules). That system is still flying on the ISS today, same processor we started with 25 years ago. The only place you can find a 25 year old computer outside of NASA and the military is in a museum.

Answer 2

"if it ain't broke, don't fix it."



A "super computer in a shoebox" is NOT needed by most functions. in fact, the only place where super speed and super-computational power is needed is ON THE GROUND, crunching numbers sent back from things like the Mars Rovers or Saturn Probes.



Since COST is a very very real hardship to NASA (seeing as how President Obama is cutting the funding almost to nothing, and the space program is about to die), it is MUCH better to get things done with CHEAPER, older technology than with newer and MORE EXPENSIVE technology.



you also have the cost factor of re-usability and volume discounts for purchasing. OLD computer technology can re-use OLD software, while NEW technology requires NEW software to make full use of the new features. that means you haev to PAY SOMEONE to learn the new software, and THAT costs money, too.



i found out many years ago that we sent to the moon using computers that used CORE MEMORY. Now, Core Memory is about as ancient and slow as you can get. ALL computers now-a-days use Integrated Circuit memory, which is fast and cheap.



But Core Memory has one VERY important feature that IC memory does not: Core Memory is NOT susceptible to radiation! While IC memory is fast and cheap, it can also be damaged by radiation in space! Now, even one BIT being off in the Flight Computer would make the difference between them getting home, and them missing the earth and flying off into interstellar space.



So, while IC Memory was cheap and fast, Core Memory was used because it could not be damaged by radiation.



It took another 20 years before Radiation Hardened (Rad Hard) memory chips were available for use is space-going devices.

Answer 3

NASA has a huge variety of ages and capabilities of computers, from very primitive to highly capable. The former are mainly on old spaceprobes. Upgrades to computers billions of miles away are not easy. Even upgrades to computers speaking to other hardware billions of miles away are rather tricky. You don't want to have to send someone out to reboot if the local upgrade doesn't go smoothly for the remote computer.

Answer 4

You'll find old computers and software are widespread in business, not just in NASA. When your systems absolutely have to work, it's often better and cheaper to stick with what works rather than change to newer stuff just for the sake of changing.

Answer 5

Depends what you want to do with the computer. My calculator from 1980 still adds 1+1 to=2, strangely so does my all seeing singing dancing 2012 calculator.



Which ones are you upset about?

Answer 6

Hard to say, unless you're more specific about which computers you mean. It's possible that NASA's finite funds are better spent elewhere.

Answer 7

If you change the computer, you typically have a big engineering project to get the peripherals to work reliably or even at all if you are using windows 8. I just got done screaming at my computer.

Answer 8

Older Type "Clunkers" have been used since the good old Apollo days.

They are great at Number Crunching.

Radio, Audio and Video you will find is up to date.

Answer 9

A tablet costs just over $99. I doubt NASA could even afford that

Answer 10

i'm sure they use modern ones now.



surely u must be looking at old footage

Answer 11

If they have any problems they just contact tech support;

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