A G3 iMac processor is powering the Mars Perseverance Rover
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Give or take a few modifications... What you need to know A PowerPC 750 is the chipset at the heart of NASA`s Perseverance Rover. That`s the same processor that was used in the G3 iMac in 1998. The Perseverance version has been modified to withstand the freezing temperatures of Mars. A new report has revealed that the chipset at the heart of NASA`s Mars Perseverance Rover is the same PowerPC 750 from the 1998 iMac G3. From New Scientist: Remember the colourful iMac computers from the late 1990s? The same processor that powered those is being used to run NASA`s Mars Perseverance rover. This processor, which is also being used in the Curiosity rover, has just 10.4 million transistors – even affordable smartphones now have more than 1000 times as many. So why is such old technology used in a cutting-edge space exploration mission? The PowerPC 750 was the same processor used by Apple back in the 1998 G3 iMac, PowerPC being the chipmaker of choice before Apple switche...