James Webb: Space telescope with only 68 GB of SSD storage, but high reliability
Inside the James Webb Space Telescope is an SSD with only 68GB of storage. Compared to commercially available models, this is significantly more robust, and more capacity is not even necessary for operation.
The first images from the new James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) were released this week, giving a very impressive view of space. Compared to previous space telescopes such as the Hubble, the JWST should offer significantly more possibilities, which are also due to more modern technology. However, according to a report by the Tom’s Hardware website, the storage capacity of the JWST is tiny compared to current devices.
Robust space storage
Accordingly, the new space telescope only has 68 GB of SSD memory, which is referred to as a “Solid State Recorder”. For comparison: Such amounts of storage have been available on a microSD card for a long time, and current consumer SSDs now often have a capacity of several TB. But there are good reasons for the clear difference. This includes age, for example: the contract to build the telescope was signed in 2003, and assembly was completed in 2016.
As the name “Solid State Recorder” shows, the memory built into the James Webb telescope is not a standard SSD. Instead, the built-in model had to be “space-ready”, which means a very high level of reliability in combination with significantly higher requirements for radiation resistance. In addition, long-term data storage on the JWST is not desired at all: the images have to be transmitted to Earth for analysis anyway.
Last on the subject: Joe Biden speaks of a “historic day”: Telescope James Webb shows the first image from space
According to the report, the JWST requires around two gigabytes of storage for technical and telemetry data, plus up to 58.8 GB of image data generated per day. However, the latter can be transmitted twice a day and then deleted, so that the memory does not necessarily have to be larger.
The remaining memory buffer of the 68 GB SSD serves as protection against failure. In ten years, by the time the James Webb telescope is scheduled to go out of service, the usable amount of memory is to be reduced to around 60 GB due to defects, so that the existing buffer can then just about store a complete daily data set.
Source: Tom’s hardware via PC gamers
Reference-www.pcgameshardware.de