An estimated point 65 Trillion dollars a year and NASA has been using the same computer parts for decades. Get this, NASA’s rocket controller chips are obsolete Intel 8086‘s that were readily available off the shelf 17 years ago but have since become extremely rare. Makes one wonder doesn’t it? So where does all that point 65 Trillion dollars a year in operating capitol go to anyway? Good question, especially since it’s just not obvious, at least not to the general public anyway.
In recent months NASA has been criticized for it’s runaway budget and indeed NASA has seen it’s budget cut for the first time since the shuttle Challenger went down in flames and smoke. Budget’s have in fact come under much scrutiny Nationwide these days, so naturally NASA, under much protest and public wailing by it’s scientific section, was next on the chopping block.
Poor Poor NASA
We’re afraid that it’s financial woes comes on the heels of recent failures and upstages by MUSK and SpaceX. So much so that there is actual talk of SpaceX replacing NASA as the US government’s front echelon space admin. Who can say, but one thing is for certain is that according to NASA those antiquated Intel 8086 computer chips have experienced a lower failure rate than any modern chip. It’s also believed that the chips contributed to the Saturn Five’s incredible success rate.
Here’s another fascinating point about the chips
Technical studies reveal that it is actually cheaper to stick with the ancient CPU chips because replacing them would mean the redesign of whole systems and it just wouldn’t be worth it. Ancient in terms of computer chips given the current rate of expansion is in many cases months not decades and not years. In terms of computer chips the Intel 8086‘s are the modern equivalent to a Ford Model “T“. And twice as rare too, nobody restores CPU chips for a hobby you see.
But what of the incredible success rate afforded by such a relatively simple system? There’s an old saying in the technical engineering world that simple is best, this is a lesson that NASA can certainly learn. Designs that are too technically demanding are always the ones that create cost overruns and spark failures to whole systems. Needless to say this has sparked a world-wide search for old Intel 8086 CPU chips that can be restored.
To date not a single rocket booster engine has failed due to a computer chip malfunction… and even we are impressed by that record. Of course it is fast becoming generally accepted that NASA’s rocketry is just an incredible public spectacle and not really sending rockets and men to space. It nonetheless must be admitted that NASA really does fire something into the air, be it space or the southern ocean off the coast of places like Cape Canaveral and Southern California.
All Hail NASA! Yeah Right!
Who would have ever thought that NASA would receive kudos from us here at FENN, but their choice to stick with a tried and proven tech over new more complicated and more apt to fail chips is admirable. Keep up the good work NASA! There now that’s not so bad, is it? In the word’s of Guss Grisolm just before being purposely put on the fried foods menu by NASA for squealing that the Apollo 1 vehicles were not really space vehicles but props… “we’ve got a long way to go”
Well, maybe Commander G. didn’t really say that, but he meant it. Had they given him the chance…
For more information read the following
Learn more about Apollo 1’s fate
