Quantcast
ZME Science
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
  • More
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

No Result
View All Result
ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
Home Other Great Pics

This hand-woven computer sent astronauts to the Moon

This is the Apollo Guidance Computer's read-only rope memory. That's right -- memory literally made from hand-woven rope. Depending on how the rope was knit, a software program could be initiated.

Mihai Andrei by Mihai Andrei
February 22, 2019
in Great Pics
Reading Time: 2 mins read
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterSubmit to Reddit

This is the Apollo Guidance Computer’s read-only rope memory. That’s right — memory literally made from rope. Depending on how the rope was knit, a software program could be initiated.

It’s still binary programming, but the entire process was extremely laborious and slow. It could take months to weave an entire program. If a wire went through one of the circular cores, it was a binary one, if it went outside of them, it was a binary zero. It seems hard to even imagine this, but at the time, this was a great breakthrough. This was the equivalent of 72 KB of storage, which was almost 20 times higher data-per-volume than existing alternatives.

ADVERTISEMENT

As for the Apollo Guidance Computers (AGC), they provided computation and electronic interfaces for guidance, navigation, and control of the spacecraft – as much as the day’s technology permitted it. Astronauts communicated with the AGC using a numeric display and keyboard called the DSKY (DiSplay&KeYboard, pronounced ‘DISS-key’), the whole technology being developed by MIT engineers. Another significant development is the fact that AGCs were the first computers to use integrated circuits.

Sorry to interrupt, but you should really...

...Join the ZME newsletter for amazing science news, features, and exclusive scoops. More than 40,000 subscribers can't be wrong.

   

The AGC.

So when someone tells you that people flew to the Moon using computers weaker than your cell phone — that’s an understatement. They flew to the Moon using a technology we’d have a hard time even imagining.

ADVERTISEMENT

ShareTweetShare
Mihai Andrei

Mihai Andrei

Andrei's background is in geophysics, and he's been fascinated by it ever since he was a child. Feeling that there is a gap between scientists and the general audience, he started ZME Science -- and the results are what you see today.

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
  • More

© 2007-2019 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Future
  • Space
  • Features
  • More
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Our stance on climate change
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2019 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.