<P> Motorola introduced the MC6809 in 1978 . It was an ambitious and well thought - through 8 - bit design that was source compatible with the 6800, and implemented using purely hard - wired logic (subsequent 16 - bit microprocessors typically used microcode to some extent, as CISC design requirements were becoming too complex for pure hard - wired logic). </P> <P> Another early 8 - bit microprocessor was the Signetics 2650, which enjoyed a brief surge of interest due to its innovative and powerful instruction set architecture . </P> <P> A seminal microprocessor in the world of spaceflight was RCA's RCA 1802 (aka CDP1802, RCA COSMAC) (introduced in 1976), which was used on board the Galileo probe to Jupiter (launched 1989, arrived 1995). RCA COSMAC was the first to implement CMOS technology . The CDP1802 was used because it could be run at very low power, and because a variant was available fabricated using a special production process, silicon on sapphire (SOS), which provided much better protection against cosmic radiation and electrostatic discharge than that of any other processor of the era . Thus, the SOS version of the 1802 was said to be the first radiation - hardened microprocessor . </P> <P> The RCA 1802 had a static design, meaning that the clock frequency could be made arbitrarily low, or even stopped . This let the Galileo spacecraft use minimum electric power for long uneventful stretches of a voyage . Timers or sensors would awaken the processor in time for important tasks, such as navigation updates, attitude control, data acquisition, and radio communication . Current versions of the Western Design Center 65C02 and 65C816 have static cores, and thus retain data even when the clock is completely halted . </P>

Where is the microprocessor located in a computer