The Rover
A big surprise for many – the Mars rover Perseverance, the most advanced rover created by mankind to date – is weaker (in terms of computing power) than most smartphones. At the core of Perseverance is an old chipset that gives it computing capabilities at the level of the 1998 iMac. Specifically – it has only 256 MB of RAM and 2 GB of permanent memory, and the frequency of its processor is only 200 MHz.
For comparison, the original Apple Watch is charged with 512 MB of RAM and 8 GB of permanent memory, and their processor runs at a frequency of 520 MHz. But the trick is that NASA engineers know exactly what they're doing. They use time-tested components that provide the rover with maximum reliability. After all, if any trouble happens with the Perseverance filling, the nearest computer workshop is several tens of millions of kilometers away. Unlike previous rovers, Perseverance carries a novelty – the first ever Martian helicopter. It runs on an equally archaic Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor. Such CPUs could be found on smartphones that were produced in the mid-2010s, such as the Samsung Galaxy S5, LG G3 or HTC One M8. This means a funny thing – the smartphone you have in your pocket is probably more powerful than the most advanced rover on our planet. In fairness, it should be noted that although the Perseverance computer stuffing is very ancient, the equipment that works on it is, on the contrary, very advanced. The rover is equipped with 23 cameras that are used for navigation and mineral analysis, as well as powerful communication systems to transmit data back to Earth.
