14 DAY TRIAL // A Raspberry Pi is going to space, but for that it needs to undergo some serious testing. It's going to use the most awesome case you've ever seen, and it's all happening very soon.
There's no doubt that Raspberry Pi is the most successful mini PC of its kind and the fact that a couple of them are going to ISS is a testament to its quality and scope. The Raspberry Pi Foundation actually announced this a while ago, and they said that it was going to undergo some serious testing. Now, we get to see what kind of tests are being done, and it's insane.
You would think that a small piece of hardware like the Raspberry Pi would have an easy time getting into space, but it turns out that it is a lot more complicated than that. They need to make sure that it never goes past a certain temperature, and they built a special case for it, that is also probably the best looking by far. Its role is to dissipate heat efficiently, among other things.
The Astro Pi is going up
"The road to space is long and winding, but the two Astro Pi flight units are almost there! The next thing for us after this is to hand over the final payload to the European Space Agency so it can be loaded onto the Soyuz-45S rocket for launch on December 15th with British ESA Astronaut Tim Peake. To be allowed on the rocket, you need a flight safety certificate for your device, and these can only be obtained by presenting a whole host of measurements and test results to a panel of experts at ESA ESTEC in Holland," reads the official blog.
The Astro Pi will need to have the right power adapters and a battery that is able to keep the exact time (the Pis won't connect to Lan). Also, the main board has to be coated in a thin layer of varnish-like material that prevents tin whiskers, the PI must not emit too much electromagnetic interference, and of course, the entire apparatus has to be smooth and without any sharp edges.
More details about incredibly complex procedures that need to be performed on the Raspberry Pi before it goes into space can be found on the official blog, and it's an incredibly fun and interesting read.
