Silicone on Sapphire
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03-14-2016, 08:14 AM
Post: #18
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RE: Silicone on Sapphire
(03-14-2016 12:25 AM)BillCRAV Wrote: The only "RCA-built SOS microprocessor" at that time (I'm pretty sure ever) was the CDP1802, which came to fruition too late to be used in the Voyager spacecraft (I & II), but was around to be used in the later Galileo. A simple search show that RCA had at least another microprocessor commercially released as a kit in early 1975: the COSMAC 1801 on which the 1802 was based and released one year later in 1976. Concerning release dates, this page here have plenty of it and based on actual support documentation. (03-14-2016 12:25 AM)BillCRAV Wrote: It is known from the specifications that the Voyagers used the rad-hardened versions of the 4000 series ICs (CMOS/low power), which were NOT "highly integrated", and so it required that MANY IC's be used to create a computer system with them. Is it acceptable that actually discrete 4000 CMOS series were used instead of an already commercially available SOS microprocessor to build that computer? Yes, it is (I did it in mid 70's as well for a school project), but this is kind of speculative until someone comes up with the actual official papers showing us what was the actual technology used in that spacecraft. Also, SOS technology was being developed at that time to be used for the military and space applications in some kind of secrecy, way before it was commercially available to the general public. In the end what we can read in the Internet is mostly noise. Jose Mesquita RadioMuseum.org member |
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