] At the nerve center of each MER rover is a 6-by 9-inch ] electronics board containing one computer responsible for ] every process that goes into a mission, whether it be ] monitoring spacecraft health in transit, deploying ] parachutes during landing or roving about the red planet. ] The computer, called a RAD6000, is a tried and true ] component for NASA space mission that has formed the ] brains of past Mars missions in the, as well as the ] recent Stardust comet encounter. k-rad, even. sorry, couldn't help myself... the venerable powerpc in yet another form. Thinking on Mars: The Brains of NASA's Red Planet Rovers |