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Apollo Guidance Computer
The Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) was a digital computer produced for the Apollo program that was installed on board each Apollo command module (CM) and Apollo Lunar Module (LM). The AGC provided computation and electronic interfaces for guidance, navigation, and control of the spacecraft. The AGC was the first computer based on silicon integrated circuits (ICs). The computer's performance was comparable to the first generation of home computers from the 1970s, such as the Kenbak-1, Apple II, TRS-80, and Commodore PET. At around 2 cubic feet (57 litres) in size, the AGC held 4,100 IC packages.
The AGC has a 16-bit word length, with 15 data bits and one parity bit. Most of the software on the AGC is stored in a special read-only memory known as core rope memory, fashioned by weaving wires through and around magnetic cores, though a small amount of read/write core memory is available.
Astronauts communicated with the AGC using a numeric display and keyboard called the DSKY (for "display and keyboard", pronounced "DIS-kee"). The AGC and its DSKY user interface were developed in the early 1960s for the Apollo program by the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory and first flew in 1966. The onboard AGC systems were secondary, as NASA conducted primary navigation with mainframe computers in Houston.
In the earlier Project Gemini program, the astronauts flew manually with control sticks. In the Apollo program however, the flight was controlled by the computer. The astronauts flew manually briefly during lunar landings. Each Moon flight carried two AGCs, one each in the command module and the Apollo Lunar Module, with the exception of Apollo 7 which was an Earth orbit mission and Apollo 8 which did not need a lunar module for its lunar orbit mission. The AGC in the command module was the center of its guidance, navigation and control (GNC) system. The AGC in the lunar module ran its Apollo PGNCS (primary guidance, navigation and control system), with the acronym pronounced as pings.
Each lunar mission had two additional computers:
The AGC was designed at the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory under Charles Stark Draper, with hardware design led by Eldon C. Hall. Early architectural work came from J. H. Laning Jr., Albert Hopkins, Richard Battin, Ramon Alonso, and Hugh Blair-Smith. The flight hardware was fabricated by Raytheon, whose Herb Thaler was also on the architectural team.
According to Kurinec et al, the chips were welded onto the boards rather than soldered as might be expected. Apollo Guidance Computer logic module drawings specify resistance-welding.
Following the use of integrated circuit (IC) chips in the Interplanetary Monitoring Platform (IMP) in 1963, IC technology was later adopted for the AGC. The Apollo flight computer was one of the first computers to use silicon IC chips.
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Apollo Guidance Computer
The Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) was a digital computer produced for the Apollo program that was installed on board each Apollo command module (CM) and Apollo Lunar Module (LM). The AGC provided computation and electronic interfaces for guidance, navigation, and control of the spacecraft. The AGC was the first computer based on silicon integrated circuits (ICs). The computer's performance was comparable to the first generation of home computers from the 1970s, such as the Kenbak-1, Apple II, TRS-80, and Commodore PET. At around 2 cubic feet (57 litres) in size, the AGC held 4,100 IC packages.
The AGC has a 16-bit word length, with 15 data bits and one parity bit. Most of the software on the AGC is stored in a special read-only memory known as core rope memory, fashioned by weaving wires through and around magnetic cores, though a small amount of read/write core memory is available.
Astronauts communicated with the AGC using a numeric display and keyboard called the DSKY (for "display and keyboard", pronounced "DIS-kee"). The AGC and its DSKY user interface were developed in the early 1960s for the Apollo program by the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory and first flew in 1966. The onboard AGC systems were secondary, as NASA conducted primary navigation with mainframe computers in Houston.
In the earlier Project Gemini program, the astronauts flew manually with control sticks. In the Apollo program however, the flight was controlled by the computer. The astronauts flew manually briefly during lunar landings. Each Moon flight carried two AGCs, one each in the command module and the Apollo Lunar Module, with the exception of Apollo 7 which was an Earth orbit mission and Apollo 8 which did not need a lunar module for its lunar orbit mission. The AGC in the command module was the center of its guidance, navigation and control (GNC) system. The AGC in the lunar module ran its Apollo PGNCS (primary guidance, navigation and control system), with the acronym pronounced as pings.
Each lunar mission had two additional computers:
The AGC was designed at the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory under Charles Stark Draper, with hardware design led by Eldon C. Hall. Early architectural work came from J. H. Laning Jr., Albert Hopkins, Richard Battin, Ramon Alonso, and Hugh Blair-Smith. The flight hardware was fabricated by Raytheon, whose Herb Thaler was also on the architectural team.
According to Kurinec et al, the chips were welded onto the boards rather than soldered as might be expected. Apollo Guidance Computer logic module drawings specify resistance-welding.
Following the use of integrated circuit (IC) chips in the Interplanetary Monitoring Platform (IMP) in 1963, IC technology was later adopted for the AGC. The Apollo flight computer was one of the first computers to use silicon IC chips.
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