Editing IBM RAD6000 (section)

==History==
The radiation-hardening of the original RSC 1.1&nbsp;million-[[transistor]] [[microprocessor|processor]] to make the RAD6000's CPU was done by IBM Federal Systems Division working with the [[Air Force Research Laboratory]].{{cn|date=August 2020}}

{{As of|2008|June}}, there are 200 RAD6000 processors in space on a variety of NASA, [[United States Department of Defense]] and commercial spacecraft, including:
* [[Mars Exploration Rover]]s ([[Spirit (rover)|''Spirit'']] and [[Opportunity (rover)|''Opportunity'']])
* [[Deep Space 1]] probe
* [[Mars Polar Lander]] and [[Mars Climate Orbiter]]
* [[Mars Odyssey]] orbiter
* [[Spitzer Space Telescope|Spitzer Infrared Telescope Facility]]
* [[MESSENGER]] probe to Mercury
* [[STEREO]] Spacecraft
* [[IMAGE (spacecraft)|IMAGE/Explorer 78]] MIDEX spacecraft
* ''[[Genesis (spacecraft)|Genesis]]'' and ''[[Stardust (spacecraft)|Stardust]]'' sample return missions
* ''[[Phoenix (spacecraft)|Phoenix]]'' Mars Polar Lander
* ''[[Dawn (spacecraft)|Dawn]]'' Mission to the asteroid belt using ion propulsion
* [[Solar Dynamics Observatory]], Launched Feb 11, 2010 (flying both RAD6000 and [[RAD750]])<ref>[https://archive.today/20120913122306/http://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/keyDevelopments?rpc=66&symbol=BAESY.PK&timestamp=20100217165200 Latest BAE Press Releases ]</ref>{{failed verification|date=February 2019}}
* Burst Alert Telescope Image Processor on board the [[Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission]] 
* DSCOVR [[Deep Space Climate Observatory]] spacecraft

The computer has a maximum clock rate of 33&nbsp;[[megahertz|MHz]] and a processing speed of about 35&nbsp;[[Million instructions per second|MIPS]].<ref name="RAD6000brochure">{{cite news|title=RAD6000 Space Computers |publisher=BAE Systems |url=http://www.baesystems.com/BAEProd/groups/public/documents/bae_publication/bae_pdf_eis_sfrwre.pdf |date=2008-06-23 |access-date=2009-09-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091004130528/http://www.baesystems.com/BAEProd/groups/public/documents/bae_publication/bae_pdf_eis_sfrwre.pdf |archive-date=2009-10-04 }}</ref> In addition to the CPU itself, the RAD6000 has 128&nbsp;[[megabyte|MB]] of [[ECC memory|ECC RAM]].<ref name="RAD6000brochure"/> A typical [[RTOS|real-time operating system]] running on NASA's RAD6000 installations is [[VxWorks]].  The Flight boards in the above systems have switchable clock rates of 2.5, 5, 10, or 20&nbsp;MHz.

Reported to have a unit cost somewhere between US$200,000 and US$300,000, RAD6000 computers were released for sale in the general commercial market in 1996.

The RAD6000's successor is the [[RAD750]] processor, based on IBM's [[PowerPC 7xx|PowerPC 750]].