Instead of sending him a load of pictures of things it could be, why doesn't he send his pictures down to them? That'll be less data to send and the people who built it are going to be far more able to identify it.
so with a gameboy advance sp, i should be able to control space and time, right? or do i need the technological marvel known cryptically as the "XBOX"?
oh yes, i regularly use space time differencials in the space time continuem to travel great distances. with my combination of my Xbox and my moms PDA. and a toaster, some gum, and a few toothpics. (mcgyver moment)
The only really "out of date" processing technology is in the shuttle'system computers. I belive they are 486s , the reason is that processors have to be stress tested and tested for abilities to withstand the forces that the shuttle expierience without destroying the chip. The astronauts actually bring laptop computers with themselves and record all there data on these laptops. Though I dont know anything about backup or main storage of the data I am sure there is some sort of secret method they use or something of the sort.
The 486 cpu debuted in 1989, 9 years after the first space shuttle was launched.
I'm sure NASA uses something proprietary and does not use intel cpus on their spacecraft. Maybe they ran as fast as the first 486s (approx. 25 mhz) but I'm betting they were custom designed specifically for each task they were supposed to do, and I bet they did it well enough there was no real reason to replace them with anything else. Nasa itself does most of it's heavy computing on Cray supercomputers.
Imagine getting 1/2 way to mars only to get a BSOD cos you bought such high-spec equipment and it went wrong... *sits on 486 chip, flyes off into space*
*presses another button on her gameboy, transforming the giant saucer-like object into a superbowl-shuffling football player robot* *robot proceeds to dance on the moon's surface*
"war cannot be avoided. it can only be posponed to the advantage of others..."
