I received a press release today that was different from the usual stuff that relentlessly flows through my inbox. IBM was touting the fact that their POWER chips are playing a key role in the upcoming (tomorrow) launch of NASA’s newest Mars mission. The goal is to fly the spacecraft 423 million miles, safely land a rover on the surface, and then direct it towards the North Pole region where it will collect and analyze samples to see if there is (or was) life in the red rock of Mars. It will also give us a chance to see if the Soviets have claimed the Martian North Pole as their property.

The press release went on to talk about this isn’t a run-of-the mill POWER processor ; both the chip and the computer had to be hardened to handle high ambient radiation and extreme weather conditions. Temperatures can drop to -200 F and winds can top 80 mph – much like the two winters I spent in Chicago. Except that on Mars, it’s a dry cold, which would be better, I guess. Given these factors, and the reality that a service call is pretty much out of the question, BAE Systems had quite a design challenge on their hands. For their part, IBM points out that they continue to have 100% of the computing market share on Mars (the previous Mars Rovers were also based on POWER architecture). While they definitely have cornered the Mars computing market, volumes aren’t so great ; nothing like the console business, where they also pretty much own the market (they pointed this out too)

Regardless of who is taking credit, I think it’s a pretty cool thing that we can send a radio controlled car over 400 million miles, through incredibly harsh conditions, land it on Mars, and then set it to work digging up dirt and running sophisticated tests. I wish I were able to write more eloquently about this, as I still can’t help smiling whenever I hear about this stuff. I had the same feeling when I was a little kid watching rocket launches on TV, and the first time I flew on a 747, or when I see a massive dam or even a huge data center. We build this stuff, solve problems that are considered insoluble, take failures and turn them into success. As I so elegantly put it above, it’s a pretty cool thing and something to be proud of.

The launch is set for 5:26 am (EDT) on Saturday. I’m not sure if it will be televised, but you can watch it live here on NASA TV.