Hurtling beyond the Moon at a speedy 25,000 mph for a three-week mission requires a space processor capable of operating with guaranteed reliability, in a high radiation environment tens of thousands of miles in deep space, at 480,000,000 instructions per second to execute thousands of commands and sequences for controlling the hundreds of spacecraft systems and components to ensure crew safety and mission success.
To ensure everything performs as planned, the Orion spacecraft destined for Exploration Mission-1 was successfully powered up for the first time this week in Orion’s spacecraft factory, the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
“The initial power-on procedure verified the health and status of Orion’s core computers and power and data units and marks the beginning of critical spacecraft subsystem tests to get us ready for flight," said Mark Kirasich, NASA Orion program manager. “Our test team, ground support equipment and flight systems all performed remarkably well during the test. This is a major milestone for Orion and for our long range deep space exploration plans.”
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http://www.isn-news.net/2017/08/power-up-system-tests-prepare-orion-for.html
