Apollo guidance computer.
Discussion
This is a very in-depth video of the Apollo guidance computer describing the matrix (early PCB) and hand wired core memory. A really astonishing achievement for the time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIBhPsyYCiM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIBhPsyYCiM
Extremely interesting.
Were those little 3 legged "gates" transistors?
I liked the ferrite core array for the memory! I wonder what these guys would make of today's silicon with a couple of billion transistors. Especially things like GPUs which have that many transistors dedicated to one task!
Were those little 3 legged "gates" transistors?
I liked the ferrite core array for the memory! I wonder what these guys would make of today's silicon with a couple of billion transistors. Especially things like GPUs which have that many transistors dedicated to one task!
They could have gone for a computer with more memory capability but were very, very concerned about robustness - especially when they knew very little about the radiation environment between the earth and the moon.
So, they went for a simple, even primitive, option - knowing that they had access to much more capable computers on the ground.
So, they went for a simple, even primitive, option - knowing that they had access to much more capable computers on the ground.
98elise said:
I joined the RN in 1982. Home computers were common even back them, yet the first ship I joined had a main computer with a 16k ferrite core store memory (iron beads).
Core store has the advantage that in the event of power outage it retains its contents. More robust in combat, perhaps?Einion Yrth said:
98elise said:
I joined the RN in 1982. Home computers were common even back them, yet the first ship I joined had a main computer with a 16k ferrite core store memory (iron beads).
Core store has the advantage that in the event of power outage it retains its contents. More robust in combat, perhaps?Excellent post, thanks!
I do marvel at the advances in technology in the later half of the last century...absolutely incredible. I was dreaming with the wife the other day, wondering what our 2 year old will be doing with tech in 25 years time. We both had no concept but did agree that we will probably become the token gran and grandad who cant use anything without constant tuition!
I do marvel at the advances in technology in the later half of the last century...absolutely incredible. I was dreaming with the wife the other day, wondering what our 2 year old will be doing with tech in 25 years time. We both had no concept but did agree that we will probably become the token gran and grandad who cant use anything without constant tuition!
Simpo Two said:
It's interesting to reflect whether 'tech' will keep on advancing to things we cannot conceive (such as our parents could not have imagined the internet), or whether it was a one-off surge that will level off - just as manned space flight seems to have been.
Graphene and spintronics could well be game changers and they're only just down the road. There's a long way to go yet.jimbobsimmonds said:
I was talking to a chap when I first started work who was involved in writing the terrain following software for Tornado. He claims they used less than 200 lines of code!!!
I can beat that... as cadets in the '70s we visited a flight simulator at an RAF base. The landscape was a large vertical piece of board, painted green with little trees stuck on it, over which a small camera 'flew' on a pantograph and relayed the scene to the cockpit...Throughout the 60s and 70s that was the normal set up for mainline aircraft simulators. I visited the American Airlines simulator centre at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport in 1981 and they were still using that type of simulators for their Boeing 707 training.
However, they had just introduced their first CGI simulator for the newer aircraft in their fleet.
However, they had just introduced their first CGI simulator for the newer aircraft in their fleet.
Einion Yrth said:
Core store has the advantage that in the event of power outage it retains its contents. More robust in combat, perhaps?
Ferrite core memory has the major advantage that it is more or less unaffected by radiation (or EMP). The primary concern for space flight was cosmic radiation.And when the systems were being defined and designed (1959 to 1966 or so), virtually nothing was known about the radiation environment that existed between the earth and the moon. The Van Allen radiation belts had only been discovered in 1958.
People don't often realise that the initial design specification of what would become the Apollo Command and Service Module was set out by NASA in 1959 (not 1961). So, initial research into what type of navigation system would be needed for a trip from the earth to the moon began as far back as 1959.
People don't often realise that the initial design specification of what would become the Apollo Command and Service Module was set out by NASA in 1959 (not 1961). So, initial research into what type of navigation system would be needed for a trip from the earth to the moon began as far back as 1959.
Le TVR said:
The study of cosmic radiation goes back nearly 100 years. There were published theories on the existence of 'belts' of charged particles trapped around the earth and this was confirmed by the Explorer program in 58.
But not much was really known about the cosmic (and other) radiation hazards in cislunar space until the ability to send spacecraft into that region.Apollo was planned at a time when there were many unknowns.
You might find this interesting too, although some of it is pretty heavy going.
http://klabs.org/history/build_agc/
http://klabs.org/history/build_agc/
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