6 ms·
Fun fact: the actual programs in the spacecraft were stored in core rope memory, an ancient memory technology made by (literally) weaving a fabric/rope, where t
by exDM69 15y ago
Fun fact: the actual programs in the spacecraft were stored in core rope memory, an ancient memory technology made by (literally) weaving a fabric/rope, where the bits were physical rings of ferrite material.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_rope_memory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_rope_memory
- GnarfGnarf 15y ago"Core" memory is resistant to cosmic rays. The state of a core bit will not change when bombarded by radiation in Outer Space. Can't say the same of solid state memory. I worked on core memory computers in the 60's. You had 16K, tape drives (no disks) and FORTRAN. What a gas!
- Retric 15y agoAt a low level your correct, but you can use error correction and a lot of redundancy to prevent cosmic rays from corrupting solid state memory and still have a lot more than 16K of storage space for a long time.
- Create 15y ago...and radhard designs.
- maaku 15y ago...which involve error correction and a lot of redundancy. But I assume you meant radhard electronics boxes, which lets you run whatever you want within a cosmic-ray shielded box.
- Create 15y agoyou can do more than just improve on the boxing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rad-hard#Radiation-hardening_techniques https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rad-hard#Radiation-hardening_t...
- samstave 15y agoJust curious how they knew this given how young the computing industry was at the time that this was used. Were there some "Well, that's interesting..." moments where we launched something and realized it was affected by cosmic rays?
- polyfractal 15y agoI think it's just an understanding of how the underlying physics work. Alpha and beta radiation will cause bits to flip in solid-state devices, because the state is held with electrons. Whereas core rope memory stores that state as magnetic fields in ferrite cylinders. So radiation will basically just bounce right off the giant ferrite cores (giant relative to solid-state semiconductors, that is). *I am not a physicist, someone correct me if I'm grossly wrong.
- Arkien 15y agoIts more a cause of the radiation ionizing the underlying semiconductor material. For instance when an electron tunnels into a transistor it can cause strange effects. Look up single event upset and single event latch-up for more information. The SEL is interesting as it causes a transistor to act as a double transistor and start drawing tons of power. At least that's how I understand it.
- mnl 15y agoHmm, it's more like any ionizing particle (charged) creates pairs electron/hole, many of them, so that the charge distribution in the pn junctions are altered. Sometimes gamma photons generate Compton electrons in the material that act as delta rays, to the same effect. Heavy particles can alter the crystal structure, inducing defects that may change its properties. Magnetic storage devices don't have polarised junctions and could withstand all this if they didn't include solid state electronics. Radiation hardening techniques and shielding can help a lot.
- brendn 15y agoMy guess is that radiation's effects on solid-state technology was well-known from nuclear tests.
- strangetimes 15y ago"Some programmers nicknamed the finished product LOL memory, for Little Old Lady memory." LOL.
- exDM69 15y agoIn 1967, binutils was a person.
- mkopinsky 15y agoHuh? I don't get it.
- unimpressive 15y agoBinutils are a set of utilities used by *nix systems. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binutils http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binutils
- darkstalker 15y agothe person who builds the core rope memory
- mkopinsky 15y agoAha. Binutils = compiler, linker, weaver, .... I think this is one person who can legitimately say that he programs with a magnetized needle and a steady hand. http://xkcd.com/378/ http://xkcd.com/378/
- AsylumWarden 15y agoGreat! Texting LOL to my grandmother suddenly has a whole new meaning. I love it! She often complains her memory is getting old so it works even better!
- J3L2404 15y agoSort of an interplanetary quipu. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quipu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quipu
- __alexs 15y agoRelated: Magnetic Core Memory, the read/write version of Core Rope Memory. http://www.corememoryshield.com/report.html http://www.corememoryshield.com/report.html