That was probably an incredible amount of memory back then. And it probably cost $1,000 USD for 1KB. Who knows how much radiation-hardened space memory was. 10 times that?

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zirkonit 2 hours ago | parent [-]

In consumer space, 69 KB of RAM (138 x 4 kbit chips) would cost around $1700 70s dollars for the entire package, ~$10k in modern dollars.

Radioationed hardened for space though — $50k-$100k in 70s dollars, roughly the price of a Silicon Valley house back then - $300k-$600k in today's money.

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Finnucane an hour ago | parent | next [-]

consumer space and space space chips.

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saltyoldman an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

Wouldn't they just put a lead plate around the computer? That can't cost 100k in 70s

	▲	kulahan 25 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Lead makes things worse, not better. High-energy particles go straight through a couple mm of lead no problem, and lead itself is radioactive anyways. The problem is when a particle punches straight through a chip, leaving some energetic charge behind. You won't stop that with a paper-thin layer of lead. Also, lead is extremely dense.
	▲	mysterydip an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		lead being heavy, I wonder if that tradeoff wasn’t worth it?