# The Space Shuttle Runs On Only One Megabyte Of RAM!



## Mumbodog (Oct 3, 2007)

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http://astroblog.cosmobc.com/2010/0...ace-shuttle-runs-on-only-one-megabyte-of-ram/



> Its true! NASAs space shuttle is controlled by a computer running on only one megabyte of RAM. How is this possible? Since the space shuttle and all its hardware is over 30 years old, so is its computer. The current computer is actually an upgraded version of the 500-kilobyte computer that was used until 1991, but still based on the same outdated technology from the 1980s.


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## loserOlimbs (Jun 19, 2004)

Is this one of those AMD vs Intel threads of yester year? 

Its really not all that surprising, but I guess now instead of people talking about the average cell phone having more processing power than the lunar module.... we can say a Palm Pre, or Nexus 1 has hundreds, maybe a thousand times the RAM of the Space Shuttle in 2010!


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## new tech guy (Mar 27, 2006)

As one comment puts it i figure they are using the keep it simple strategy here, think about it, if you update with a much more modern, powerful computer, then you have alot more that can go wrong, here the computer system is exteremely simple as well as the data it handles. Therefore very little is there to break in the first place thus insuring better reliability of the shuttle than a much more complex pc with much more involved in it.


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## techkid (Sep 2, 2004)

Like it was saying, all the shuttle really needs the computer for is the number-crunching.

Just because the technology is outdated, doesn't mean it no longer works.


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## Noyb (May 25, 2005)

I assume they've updated by now .. But for a backup to calculate reentry burns .. 
They used to have a couple of These 1 bit processors on board.


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