From the first steps to the leap forward004 Archives Mashable is commemorating the 50th anniversary of the moon landing with a series that examines its significance -- and why we haven’t been back.
The Soviets launched the first satellite into space. And the first man. Also the first woman. So when NASA astronauts rapidly approached the moon 50 years ago, a lot was riding on a computer with less than 80 kilobytes of memory.
By today's standards, it's a dinosaur. The Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) weighed 70 pounds. Programs were literally woven into the hardware by hand — it was called "core rope memory."
But it was revolutionary for its time. Back in the 1950s, when the prototype was conceived for a hypothetical mission to Mars, there weren't many tech companies NASA could turn to for help. In fact, it was the other way around.
"It was these kinds of programs that were pushing the technology that created Silicon Valley," said Philip Hattis, currently on the technical staff of the Draper Laboratory, formerly known as the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory.
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable As a graduate student, he worked with the MIT team that developed the AGC. The challenges were immense. In an age of massive IBM mainframes, they had to design a computer small enough to fit on a cutting-edge spaceship with a limited amount of fuel. Even today, it costs around $10,000 to put a pound of cargo into orbit.
Not only did it have to be light, the AGC needed to consume as little power as possible. It ended up needing around 70 watts — around the same as a lightbulb. And it had to be tough enough to survive the rigors of space travel.
"When you go through launch, it's shaking like crazy, you're pulling lots of Gs," Hattis explained. "So it's got to be rugged."
Building a revolutionary, lightweight, super-tough computer took a lot of time and manpower. As in the equivalent of 2,000 years of engineering labor. That meant that once the custom AGC was finally completed, some of the technology was already out of date.
There were actually two of these computers on the Apollo 11 mission: one on the Command Module that housed the astronauts during most of their journey, and one on the Lunar Module that took Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong down to the moon's surface.
The astronauts controlled the computers through the DSKY (short for “display and keyboard"), which was barely more than a numeric keypad. They had to remember which number corresponded with the "verbs" and "nouns" that made up every command. (Yes, someone made a simulator if you want to try it out. Good luck.)
SEE ALSO: 50 'moon' songs to celebrate 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landingTo put its computing power into perspective, the AGC could perform around 40,000 instructions per second, according to American Scientist. That's far less than the 10 billion of a typical laptop.
This is what the astronauts used to navigate to the moon, along with a sextant.
"They could look out and see the positions of stars," Hattis said. "Based on the size of the disc of the moon or Earth, and based on the angle of certain stars relative to the surface, they could get a position fix."
And yes, plenty of people and computers were guiding them from Mission Control. But they needed to make course corrections on the fly. (There were also fears the Soviets and their lunar probe would interfere with communications.)
These days, your laptop, phone, and possibly even lightbulb or toilet have more computing power than the Apollo Guidance Computer. But this machine was efficient and totally ahead of its time. And without it the space program — and consumer technology as we know it — wouldn't have traveled nearly so far.
Trump's new tariff plan spares some smartphones, laptops
These incredibly detailed paintings of stuffed animals will make you feel like a kid again
I spent my morning at New York's new Taylor Swift Experience
A Singapore teenager created a Prezi for Trump, because presentations are the worst
Amazon Pet Day: All the best deals
How to fix Gmail's cluttered design with a simple Chrome extension
These incredibly detailed paintings of stuffed animals will make you feel like a kid again
Everything a Marvel newbie needs to know before 'Avengers: Endgame'
Best grocery deal: Spend $20 and get $5 off at Amazon
Uber could be worth $90 billion. Most drivers won't see much of it.
Skype is finally shutting down
Mike Pence tries to end the 'Hamilton' drama while Trump stokes the flames
How will the Eternals fit in the MCU after 'Avengers: Endgame?'
Donald Trump writes misleading tweet, but that's not the scary part
Exceptionally rare radio sources detected in the distant universe
Samsung patent reveals wraparound smartphone display concept
Elon Musk is annoying the hell out of people who work with self
'Avengers: Endgame' is all about the snap. But why did Thanos snap?
The Kindle Scribe just dropped to its lowest price ever, but is it worth it?
Chris Pratt shares behind
The newly renovated North Korean national zoo has a surprising exhibitSamsung's foldable phone will be insanely expensive, report saysElon Musk offers assistance from Tesla for the California wildfiresElon Musk offers assistance from Tesla for the California wildfiresFoldable phones will be a shortApple launches iPhone X touchscreen replacement programHow you can help the victims of California's wildfiresPhone apps that use black instead of white use less battery lifeWhen vandals destroyed a couple's pride flag, the neighborhood put up 40 moreRussian operatives apparently did not hack the midterm electionsMan gets stuck between buildings while trying to impress his date'Mars' Season 2 needs a makeover. Here's how to fix it.Samsung Galaxy S10 will reportedly have a very different kind of notchWhen vandals destroyed a couple's pride flag, the neighborhood put up 40 moreBaby kangaroos scratching each other will make you both happy and itchyHere’s what 100 mini drones look like at Rockettes holiday show'Return of the Obra Dinn' reinvents the murder mystery game: Review9 awesome things from Tokyo we want to see in the 2020 Olympics'Pokémon Let's Go' is the Pokémon game I wish I had as a kidSamsung will debut new foldable phones once per year, says How to hide your Huddle status on Slack (and why you should) 'The Office' writers share the IRL experience that inspired Michael's koi pond fall Indie game gets reviewed bombed on Steam for sexist anti This tweet about unicorns and giraffes makes total, shocking sense Kids asking questions about sex is the purest comedy you'll see today NASA opens vacuum All the wittiest signs from the UK protests against Trump British politician butt tweets and the responses on Twitter are absolute magic Cher loves Paddington Bear, and I love both of them, so it all works out Compare the new iPhone SE with the 2020 version Substack launches iOS app Google made a video of our top searches in 2017, and it's a doozy More 'Wordle': There are 31 solutions in this unhinged viral game mashup Apple Event: Despite 'celebrating women,' Apple called out during peek performance event 'The Batman' director on that surprising ending and where it might lead The real reason England had to lose its World Cup battle Apple takes store down ahead of 'Peek Performance' event Brett Kavanaugh's law school roommate says he used to eat pasta with ketchup Spotify and Discord are down for some users BAFTA Awards 2022: The full winners list
1.5889s , 10133.6015625 kb
Copyright © 2025 Powered by 【2004 Archives】,Inspiration Information Network