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

NASA’s Perseverance Rover, which recently landed on Mars, is powered by the same processor used in an 23-year-old iMac.

As reported by NewScientist (via Gizmodo), the rover includes the PowerPC 750 processor, the same chip used in the 1998 G3 ‌iMac‌.

The main chipset is the same; however, there are differences between the version of the processor delivered to a consumer computer and the one that explores space. The rover’s processor is built to withstand temperatures between -67 and 257 degrees Fahrenheit (-55 and 125 degrees Celsius) and comes with an added price of $ 200,000.

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

Apple used PowerPC chips on Mac computers until it switched to Intel in 2005. Today, Apple is going through a similar change, moving away from Intel to implement its own custom Apple silicon in Macs.