Most gate circuits accept more than 2 input variables; for example, the spaceborne Apollo Guidance Computer, which pioneered the application of integrated circuits in the 1960s, was built with only one type of gate, a 3-input NOR, whose output is true only when all 3 inputs are false.
Eldon Hall was the leader of hardware design efforts for the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) at MIT, and advocated the use of integrated circuits for this task.
The Apollo Guidance Computer used as an autopilot for the CSM and LEM had a mass of around a hundred pounds and consumed a significant amount of power, so computer controlled flight was out of the question.
The third episode details the story of MIT's work on the Apollo Guidance Computer.
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It covers everything from the iconic Saturn V to the Command Module, the Lunar Module, the Space Suits, the Guidance and Control Computer, and the Lunar Rover.
Apollo | Apple Computer | Computer Science | computer | Apollo 11 | computer science | Apollo program | 3D computer graphics | personal computer | Mainframe computer | Computer network | Computer-generated imagery | Computer programming | Apollo Theater | Apollo 13 | Sony Computer Entertainment | Computer hardware | 2D computer graphics | Computer science | Apollo Theatre | Apollo 17 | Hacker (computer security) | Computer Sciences Corporation | Computer program | Apollo 1 | Personal Computer | computer program | Hammersmith Apollo | Computer file | mainframe computer |
Core rope memory is a form of read-only memory (ROM) for computers, first used in the 1960s by early NASA Mars probes and then in the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) designed and programmed by the MIT Instrumentation Lab and built by Raytheon.