RE: starship-design: unmanned missions

["L. Parker" <lparker@cacaphony.net>]

David,

> Heh, the PC you are sending e-mail with might possibly be the more
> powerful of the two in that comparison.  But that's a quibble.

I think they have upgraded the shuttle's computers in the last few years, so
the PC may no longer be more powerful. Either Kelly or Kevin posted
something about it re a similar comment I made last year. I do know that
when they were originally putting together the specifications for the Space
Station Freedom's computer systems they were PCs running LINUX (they wanted
a clear, commercially available upgrade path). I'm not sure what the
International Space Station ended up with. Anybody know?

There is a definite limit to how long Moore's Law will hold. Besides the
speed of light there are other factors which we are already beginning to
hit. Electron tunneling is just one. You can only make a circuit so small
before the electrons in one circuit will just arbitrarily jump into an
adjoining circuit. Kind of produces messy results...


Lee

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