Space Shuttle Discovery Flight deck 360
Discussion
This might be better placed in Boats trains and planes.... But I think it's more "Science" don't you?
http://360vr.com/2011/06/22-discovery-flight-deck-...
http://360vr.com/2011/06/22-discovery-flight-deck-...
Very nice and Once you get an idea of where the controls are not as
complex as you may think.
Love the dell though i doubt its the primary
if i recall were not the original computers z80 or 8088 based devices?
so that laptop could probably take over most of the ships
operations at once perform them several times faster
and still have enough overhead for a game of minesweeper
complex as you may think.
Love the dell though i doubt its the primary
if i recall were not the original computers z80 or 8088 based devices?
so that laptop could probably take over most of the ships
operations at once perform them several times faster
and still have enough overhead for a game of minesweeper

The computers were upgraded a number of times over the 30 years of operation. There was a massive flight deck modernisation programme in the early 1990s. I think the screens went from three to the nine you can see in that picture. The original screens were green display CRTs (a bit like an Amstrad).
Even at the end of the Shuttle era, the onboard computrers did not have enough RAM to enable the entire flight profile to be held in the memory. There were three programmes, launch, in-orbit and re-entry - and each programme was dumped and re-loaded from magnetic tape casette before each phase of the flight.
Here's the original layout -

And the later upgraded version -

Even at the end of the Shuttle era, the onboard computrers did not have enough RAM to enable the entire flight profile to be held in the memory. There were three programmes, launch, in-orbit and re-entry - and each programme was dumped and re-loaded from magnetic tape casette before each phase of the flight.
Here's the original layout -

And the later upgraded version -
Edited by Eric Mc on Monday 13th February 09:13
Eric Mc said:
The computers were upgraded a number of times over the 30 years of operation. There was a massive flight deck modernisation programme in the early 1990s. I think the screens went from three to the nine you can see in that picture. The original screens were green display CRTs (a bit like an Amstrad).
Even at the end of the Shuttle era, the onboard computrers did not have enough RAM to enable the entire flight profile to be held in the memory. There were three programmes, launch, in-orbit and re-entry - and each programme was dumped and re-loaded from magnetic tape casette before each phase of the flight.
Here's the original layout -

And the later upgraded version -

Ah thanks for that i had noticed the extra displays.Even at the end of the Shuttle era, the onboard computrers did not have enough RAM to enable the entire flight profile to be held in the memory. There were three programmes, launch, in-orbit and re-entry - and each programme was dumped and re-loaded from magnetic tape casette before each phase of the flight.
Here's the original layout -

And the later upgraded version -
Edited by Eric Mc on Monday 13th February 09:13
Still shocking that the computer systems were still so primitive
with what's available for minimal expense i mean magnetic tape drives

NASA never heard of usb sticks or portable hard drives?
I wondered if the use of "old" media formats had something to do with potential
radiation or EM field exposure on orbit but surly mag tape would be just as
vulnerable if not more so.
Surely its not down to cost.
ShayneJ said:
Eric Mc said:
The computers were upgraded a number of times over the 30 years of operation. There was a massive flight deck modernisation programme in the early 1990s. I think the screens went from three to the nine you can see in that picture. The original screens were green display CRTs (a bit like an Amstrad).
Even at the end of the Shuttle era, the onboard computrers did not have enough RAM to enable the entire flight profile to be held in the memory. There were three programmes, launch, in-orbit and re-entry - and each programme was dumped and re-loaded from magnetic tape casette before each phase of the flight.
Here's the original layout -

And the later upgraded version -

Ah thanks for that i had noticed the extra displays.Even at the end of the Shuttle era, the onboard computrers did not have enough RAM to enable the entire flight profile to be held in the memory. There were three programmes, launch, in-orbit and re-entry - and each programme was dumped and re-loaded from magnetic tape casette before each phase of the flight.
Here's the original layout -

And the later upgraded version -
Edited by Eric Mc on Monday 13th February 09:13
Still shocking that the computer systems were still so primitive
with what's available for minimal expense i mean magnetic tape drives

NASA never heard of usb sticks or portable hard drives?
I wondered if the use of "old" media formats had something to do with potential
radiation or EM field exposure on orbit but surly mag tape would be just as
vulnerable if not more so.
Surely its not down to cost.
If it worked, why replace it? Like any flight or space softweare, the most important atributes are accuracy and reliability.
As computing power became faster and cheaper, it was much easier to equip the crew with laptops for their specific needs rather than redesign the computers on teh Shuttle itself - which were perfectly adequate for the functions they were tasked to do.
As computing power became faster and cheaper, it was much easier to equip the crew with laptops for their specific needs rather than redesign the computers on teh Shuttle itself - which were perfectly adequate for the functions they were tasked to do.
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