NASA unified laptop power on ISS: one adapter instead of dozens of chargers

NASA has modified the laptops used on the International Space Station so that different models can operate from a single power standard. This eliminated the need to send separate chargers for each computer into orbit — an environment where every gram of cargo matters.

According to Tom's Hardware, citing space technology enthusiast and engineer George Rausch, the modem ports on ISS-bound laptops were replaced with round "cannon plug" connectors. The engineer said Lockheed Martin received the contract to modify ThinkPad and other computers that eventually went into space.

Rausch also explained that the network infrastructure and communications on the ISS were originally based on the MIL-STD-1553 system rather than Ethernet. Laptops with built-in telephone modems look odd today, but construction of the station began in the late 1990s, when modems were still standard for PCs, and the first crews arrived on board in 2000.

Since then, the computer equipment on the station has been significantly upgraded. In 2026, NASA began replacing old laptops with more than 100 powerful HP Z workstations featuring Core Ultra 9 processors and RTX Pro Blackwell graphics cards. According to HP, the computers underwent rigorous testing for two years before deployment.

The company's release contains few technical details but again emphasizes the importance of a unified power standard: for the new space laptops, HP supplies universal AC/DC power adapters specifically designed to work both on the ISS and on Earth.