(ORDO NEWS) — It turns out that the solid-state drive (SSD) on board the latest space telescope, worth more than $10 billion, is much smaller than the hard drive that resides inside a typical average personal computer. The volume of the disk on Webb is only 68 gigabytes.
Although 68 gigabytes may seem like an insignificant amount, this choice was made for a reason. First, the SSD, or rather the “solid-state recorder”, had to go through a difficult certification process, since it must withstand a huge flow of radiation.
Just because of this radiation, experts believe that 68 gigabytes will be reduced to 60 gigabytes of usable memory over the ten-year life of the telescope.
Secondly, 68 gigabytes is enough for 24 hours of data collection, since the telescope transmits the collected data back to Earth several times a day. Therefore, 60 gigabytes of memory, oddly enough, is enough.
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