Hey, what kind of silicon may power next-gen space probes? We hope your answer includes 'AI acceleration'

Xilinx today launched what it claims is the world's first space-grade 20nm FPGA designed to run tiny machine-learning models within satellites and spacecraft, as well as other tasks. The Radiation Tolerant Kintex UltraScale XQRKU060 chip, manufactured by TSMC, is the latest addition to Xilinx's family of space-safe hardware. …

[Mike Shepherd]

Tough

"...4,000 hours non-stop at 125 Celsius..., withstanding...80 MeV of radiation energy per centimetre square..."

But can it survive being in a kid's video console?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, but is it self-aware?

Also: can it recognize cat pictures?

[Anonymous Coward]

Just what science needs

I hope the boffins won't be too displeased when it artificially enhances Jupiter's red spot to show it's actually an asshole with hemorrhoids; just before deciding to change and dive into to get a better view.

[tonybarry]

How much does it cost in unit lots ??

There are some things which - if you have to ask the price - are too expensive for you. Space-rated electronics would be one of these things; a PowerPC RAD 750 by BAE is supposedly north of 200k USD, and that's for one processor chip that runs at about 200MHz and has a transistor count of 10.9M done on 250nm silicon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAD750

So ... how much for the Xilinx FPGA ? Icon of Paris crying because she can't afford one either.