Deep Space Products has introduced its newest Mission Control computer, the Mission Control MC85 Observatory Computers.
As Edward Thomas, owner of Deep Space Products notes, “The MC85 is a true, fanless industrial computer built to withstand harsh environments, including high heat and low cold temperatures. Don’t confuse this type of computer with fanless media servers. Fanless media servers still depend on reasonable temperatures to function reliably and for the long term. Some people may have their systems in mild climates without much dust or humidity, but many don’t. Some people may have their systems in mild climates without much dust or humidity, but many don’t. Unfortunately, extreme temperatures and dust are commonplace in the west and becoming more common. Heat and dust kill computers, as do humid conditions in observatories in those environments. Industrial computers are designed to withstand this rough treatment.”
Removing the fan removes a point of failure, creating a solid-state solution with no moving parts that will outlast commercial mini PCs, laptops, and desktops in the observatory. To back that up, the MC85 includes a 54-month (4.5 years) warranty on the base unit. The base unit and parts are for it are expected to be available for up to 15 years.
The single-interface heat sink provides optimal heat transfer, further improving cooling performance over other cases. The MC85 has a standard operating temperature range of -4°F to 158°F (-20°C to 70°C), sufficient for most environments, and can be special ordered with a greater range of -40°F to 185°F (-40°C to 85°C). The Relative humidity is 5% – 95% non-condensing.
Measuring only 112 x 84 x 34 mm (4.4″ x 3.3″ x 1.3″) and approximately 12.3 ounces (350 grams), the MC85 is small enough and light enough for discreet placement in space-constrained observatory environments, particularly in scope-top applications. In addition, passive cooling reduces the potential for vibration, which is critical with scope-top systems.
Power can be supplied from any DC power source with 7 to 20 volts (12 volts works well) at 3.0 amps or more recommended. Peak system power consumption is approximately 1.25 amp. The power connector is a standard 2.5mm barrel center-positive connector.
The Mission Control MC85 Observatory Computers come with Windows 10 Pro installed. In addition, Deep Space Products provide free services to install software sold by Deep Space Products or your software that you provide to us.
The company can also provide custom observatory configurations. Custom configurations can include complete custom scope-top systems with the computer, power distribution, USB hub, equipment controllers, mountings, custom-length cables, etc.
The base configuration for the Mission Control MC85 Observatory Computers includes the following:
– Fanless case with single-piece heat sink
– Intel Atom® x7-E3950 Processor (4 cores, 2M Cache, up to 2.00 GHz, TDP 12W) (a Celeron version is available by special order)
– Windows 10 Pro (Windows 11 if you prefer)
– 8GB RAM (1x SO-DIMM 204-pin DDR3L Non-ECC DDR3L-1866 (1.35V)) (up to 16GB)
– 128GB SSD (M.2 M-key 2260) (up to 1TB available)
– MicroSD card slot (bootable)
– Wi-Fi 802.11ac dual antenna + Bluetooth 4.2
– USB3 x 2
– USB2 x 6
– Micro RS232 serial socket
– HDMI x 1
– Mini DP x 1
– Gigabit ethernet port x 2
– Audio in and out
– Boot on power through BIOS
For custom configurations contact Deep Space Products. This includes adding things such as super duty SSDs, additional internal storage (subtract four USB2 ports), different processors, and cellular modems are available for special order upon request. The company also provides custom scope-top systems ready to slide onto your dovetail bar and start using.
You can learn more about additional specifications and capabilities here.
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