NASA engineers reprogrammed Mars helicopter's Snapdragon chip to run the rover instead, reconfiguring system from 140 million miles away — repurposes its 'ancient' unused Qualcomm 801 SoC, accurate to within 10 inches
Tom's Hardware: For The Hardcore PC Enthusiast [Unofficial]
February 24, 2026
The Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 chip was used to communicate with the Ingenuity Mars helicopter. But now that it's been retired from service, NASA engineers found another use for this relatively powerful chip.
Discussion in the ATmosphere