Apollo mission to the moon program computers

[Modelworks]

Was just watching the science channel program called "Moon Machines" about the Apollo computers.

Each program was written by hand and turned into punch cards. You submitted your work and waited for a pile of paper output. If you got it right you got a printout 1/8' thick. If there was an error it could be a printout of 2 feet thick. Correct your error and wait for another printout. Repeat over and over till you got it right.

Total memory 72KB.

To store the program , the memory used was rope memory.
Uses wire braided with rings . A wire passing through a ring was a one, outside a ring a zero. All wound buy hand.

Youtube video from show about the computer .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...VNTDj0&feature=related

A good watch about how hard it was to accomplish what they did.


Tech specs:

Word Length: 15 bits plus parity.
Fixed Memory Registers: 36,864 Words.
Erasable Memory Registors: 2.048 Words.
Number of Normal Instructions: 34.
Number of Involuntary nstructions
(Increment, interrupt, etc.): 10.
Number of Interface Circuits: 227.
Memory Cycle time: 11.7 microseconds.
Addition Time: 23.4 microseconds.
Multiplication Time: 46.8 microseconds.
Number of Logic Gates: 5,600 (2,800 packages)
Volume: 0.97 cubic feet.
Weight: 70 pounds.
Power Consumption: 55 watts.

Specifications:
Instruction Set: Approximately 20 instructions;
100 noun-verb pairs, data up to triple-precision
Word Length: 16 bits (14 bits + sign + parity)
Memory: ROM (rope core) 36K words; RAM (core) 2K words
Disk: None
I/O: DSKY (two per spacecraft)
Performance: approx. Add time - 20us
Basic machine cycle: 2.048 MHz
Technology: RTL bipolar logic (flat pack)
Size: AGC - 24" x 12.5" x 6" (HWD); DSKY - 8" x 8" x 7" (HWD)
Weight: AGC - 70 lbs; DSKY - 17.5 lbs
Number produced: AGC - 75; DSKY: 138
Cost: Unknown.
Power consumption: Operating: 70W @ 28VDC; Standby 15.0 watt


To complete a mission, some 10,500 DSKY keystrokes were required. Still, the astronauts reported that interacting with the AGC was intuitive and simple, even remarking that incorrect keystrokes "just felt wrong." The AGC could also receive commands from earth-based computers via a telemetry channel, allowing in-flight adjustments to be made. Lastly, the mission could also be flown using two other on-board systems an inertial navigation unit and an optical one.

The computer today is still on the moon where they left it in the module.

 

[RapidSnail]

That's amazing.

 

[imported_Champ]

it is always awesome to see how far we have really come with technology like this

 

[judasmachine]

That is cool. I think my cell phone could do all that.

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: judasmachine
That is cool. I think my cell phone could do all that.

It can 1000 times faster.

What's really amazing is how bloated today's software is.

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: judasmachine
That is cool. I think my cell phone could do all that.

Your cell phone probably has more computing power than the Univac in the other link...for sure, laptops have more raw computing power than we used to send men to the moon in 1969.

 

[crab]

Cool

Just ordered this book.

 

[SlitheryDee]

NASA ship computers are still WAY behind consumer computers in terms of processing power. They're afraid to change them too much because they work very well right now, and I'd say that's what's important in the end anyway. I read that Russia did a minor upgrade to their flight computers, something like going from 8k to 32k memory, and shuttles started crashing. Easy to see why they'd want to stick with what works.