5 ms·
wait do silicon based chips work in the temperature and pressure of the martian surface?
by secperkinsstan 5y ago
wait do silicon based chips work in the temperature and pressure of the martian surface?
- mastax 5y agoYes. From what I gather you wouldn't use commercial grade chips, the standard epoxy encapsulation doesn't work well at crazy temperatures and pressures. Ceramic/metal packages are preferred. See: https://www.ti.com/applications/industrial/aerospace-defense/space/overview.html#whatsnew https://www.ti.com/applications/industrial/aerospace-defense...
- sephamorr 5y agoIt's actually not crazy on Ingenuity: vacuum really isn't an issue for most chips, the epoxy packages are totally okay from 0-1atm. The temperatures are also kept benign - One of the advantages of being in a near vacuum of the Martian atmosphere is that heat transfer is very slow. Ingenuity keeps to a fairly narrow (-20 to 60C iirc) temperature range even without substantial power spent on heaters. It gets warm during a heat-soak event after flying, and on the cold side, it doesn't get below the temps allowed for the li-ion battery. Note that it isn't designed to survive a bad martian winter, though this is mostly due to decreased power generation rather than lower temperatures.