Colleagues Tom’s hardware (Opens in a new tab) I found it interesting. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which replaces the Hubble Array used to take the most extreme HD pictures of the universe, has a very small hard drive of 68 gigabytes. What can i do?
I think this answers some interesting questions about what makes computer hardware “powerful” and, more precisely, what makes it suitable for the task. JWST that has been pumped up Some incredible images (Opens in a new tab)Features a “Solid State Recorder” that stores the data collected from the array before sending it to Earth. JWST is built to collect approximately 57 GB of data daily and sends half an allocation at a time between the two orbital windows of the Earth’s rotation. The telescope itself doesn’t need it, so it doesn’t have practical long-term storage. That data is of no use to anyone floating in space.
To withstand the dangers around open spaces, JWST’s hard drives are “radiation resistant” and have about 10 giga storage capacity than is required for day-to-day operations. Intentional redundancy allows you to maintain functional capacity in the face of reduced functionality. Planned 10-year lifespan.
Ultimately, I think it’s always a bit profound to see the same basic hardware and concepts in consumer hardware applied to the most advanced and cutting-edge human efforts. It’s like seeing a blue screen on the sign and reminding you that it’s just a super-sized computer, but instead of laughing a bit, rush to think about the potential of humanity. is.
It also reminds us that all raw computing powers around the world, such as teraflops, gigabytes, and those of their nature, are meaningless unless they are used effectively. My rugged desktop has about the same amount of RAM as JWST’s storage, but it crashes regularly under the weight of Chrome. I think some of the most interesting stories about computing come from maximizing results with less effort. JWST SSDs weren’t even compatible with Warzone or Destiny 2, but they’re a good tool for the job.