A MSU computer prototype that was tested aboard the space station, shown here on Oct. 24, 2016, resembles the new version that will go to the moon. (Credit: MSU Photo by Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez)
by Marshall Swearingen
MSU News Service
BOZEMAN, Mont. — In their quest to develop an improved computer that could one day be used in NASA spacecraft, Montana State University researchers have tinkered with their creation on the laboratory bench, dangled it from high-altitude helium balloons, sent it to the International Space Station and launched it into Earth’s orbit on a bread loaf-sized satellite. Now it will go to the moon.
NASA announced earlier this month that an MSU team led by Brock LaMeres has won a coveted spot on a 2020-2021 lunar mission that will be the biggest trial yet for the radiation-tolerant computing concept LaMeres conceived more than a decade ago.