A NASA processor now being tested at JPL is performing 500 times faster than the radiation-hardened chips currently used in spaceflight — yet fits in the palm of a hand and could let future spacecraft make AI-powered decisions on their own when communicating with Earth can take 44 minutes round-trip.

A NASA processor now being tested at JPL is performing 500 times faster than the radiation-hardened chips currently used in spaceflight — yet fits in the palm of a hand and could let future spacecraft make AI-powered decisions on their own when communicating with Earth can take 44 minutes round-trip.

A palm-sized processor undergoing tests at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory has produced an early result that could reset expectations for computing in space. JPL says the High Performance Spaceflight Computing processor, known as HPSC, is showing indications of 500 times the performance of radiation-hardened processors currently used in spacecraft. The comparison comes from an active test programme, not a flight mission. JPL reported in May tha…