Intel announces a “microprogrammable computer on a chip”: the Intel 4004 (2300 transistors), a 4-bit microprocessor; it was developed by Italian Federico Faggin and Americans Marcian Hoff and Stan Mazer. (US Patent #3,821,715). Pioneer 10 will be equipped with an Intel 4004: launched on March 2, 1972, it will be the first space probe to use microprocessors.
