The technology developed by ARM Holdings in Cambridge has reached every corner of the earth as a result of the mobile phone revolution. Now it is set to go to infinity and beyond after Nasa commissioned companies to build a radiation-hardened version of an ARM chip to be used in manned spacecraft.
The Nasa officials, based at the Goddard Space Flight Center near Washington, have sent out a joint tender with the US air force for companies to build a processor to meet the on-board computing needs for both manned craft and space robots.
It selected ARM’s architecture for the development of the chip as part of a four-year project that represents a significant coup for Britain’s largest technology company.
ARM was spun out of