NASA Mars Perseverance Rover uses the same PowerPC chipset found in 1998 G3 iMac

NASA’s Perseverance Rover, which recently landed history on the surface of Mars, is powered by the same processor used in an iMac over 23 years old.

PIA23764 RoverNamePlateonMars web

As reported by NewScientific (via Gizmodo), the Rover contains the PowerPC 750 processor, the same chip used in the 1998 G3 ‌iMac‌.

The main disk set is the same; however, there are differences between the version of the processor sent in a consumer computer and the exploration space. The processor in the Rover is built to withstand temperatures between -67 and 257 degrees Fahrenheit (-55 and 125 degrees Celsius), and has an additional price of $ 200,000.

The PowerPC 750 processor was the lead for its time, with a single-core, 233MHz processor, 6 million transistors (compared to today’s 16 billion in a single chip), and based on 32-bit architecture.

iMac G3


Apple used PowerPC chips on Mac computers until it switched to Intel in 2005. Right now, Apple is going through a similar change and is moving away from Intel to deploy its own Apple silicone in Macs.

.Source