Together they make up the Spaceborne Computer, a Linux system that has supercomputer processing power.

They were sent up to see how durable they would be in space with minimal specialist treatment.

After 530 days, they are still working.

Their return flight was postponed after a Russian rocket failed in October 2018.

HPE senior content architect Adrian Kasbergen said they may return in June 2019 if there is space on a flight but "right now they haven’t got a ticket".

The company is working with Nasa to be "computer-ready" for the first manned Mars flight, estimated to take place in about 2030. The company is also working with Elon Musk’s Space X.

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