Timeline for Laptops in space
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
8 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 18, 2011 at 17:46 | vote | accept | GordonM | ||
| Jul 18, 2011 at 9:11 | comment | added | BarsMonster | Yes, aluminium is as susceptible as plastic. In fact, plastic does better job at shielding neutrons, which is more serious issue. AFAIK more or less recent AMD-based laptops with integrated memory controller in CPU should be able to deal with ECC memory right out of the box (although might be limited in BIOS). Sapphire IC's are very expensive, so we never see them in laptops, but AMD-based CPU's are made on similar technology (Silion on insulator), which should be less sensitive to radiation. Anyway, on low earth orbit usual off-the-shelf NB might just work, it's not that nasty. | |
| Jul 18, 2011 at 9:00 | comment | added | GordonM | Sorry, by ruby I meant sapphire. | |
| Jul 18, 2011 at 8:50 | comment | added | GordonM | I can take it from your answer then that an aluminium-clad laptop would be just as susceptible to radiation damage as a plastic one? You're right about ECC RAM, it would be better suited to space, but I don't believe there are any off-the-shelf laptops that support it, which is why I didn't bring it up, or ruby ICs for that matter. My criteria for the question is that the computer in question has to be factory-spec, or close to it (The NASA page mentioned unspecified "modifications" to the thinkpads, but those could have nothing to do with space radiation). | |
| S Jul 15, 2011 at 17:59 | history | suggested | Kevin Reid | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
grammar/punctuation, curly quotes, superscript for isotopes with element symbols
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| Jul 15, 2011 at 17:26 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| S Jul 15, 2011 at 17:59 | |||||
| Jul 15, 2011 at 16:44 | comment | added | Breakthrough | The only downside to EEC is the slight performance penalty - although the difference is largely negligible, it's worth mentioning for completeness. It should also be noted that this will only work under light radiation exposure; heavy enough and EEC will not help you. | |
| Jul 15, 2011 at 16:18 | history | answered | BarsMonster | CC BY-SA 3.0 |