NASA has selected the HP ZBook Fury G9 Mobile Workstation as the next laptop for the International Space Station. The Expedition 74 crew, including astronauts Chris Williams and Jessica Meir, began the upgrade process April 15th, unpacking hardware on orbit. Network servers get replaced first, then the new machines activate.
This is not a routine story. The logistics of certifying, launching, and deploying commercial hardware to a pressurized lab 250 miles up reveal how NASA procurement actually works, and why the ZBook Fury G9 specifically cleared that bar. The full piece gets into the hardware specs and what 'more powerful' means in a microgravity context.
The upgrade is in progress now. If you want to know what runs the most expensive research platform humanity has ever built, and why HP won that contract, read the original at The Verge.
[READ ORIGINAL →]