Your smartphone has light years ahead of the NASA computers that guided the Apollo Moon landings



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In the 2018 film "First Man" on Neil Armstrong's journey to become the first human to set foot on the moon, a computer plays a prominent role in the dramatic moments before the lunar module comes to life. area. Taken directly from the audio recording At the time of landing, the scene features a resounding alarm from the Apollo guidance computer that handles the descent and motion ahead of the spacecraft. Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin report a few alarms, designated 1202, then 1201. In both cases, mission control in Houston asks the astronauts to continue, the mission is a "departure". a crucial moment in the history of computer science: the alarm indicated that an essential feature of the guidance computer was doing exactly what it was designed to – landing on the moon The absolute priority of the computer computer. While the computer systems that sent humans to the moon and back in July 1969 are considered primitive compared to smartphones that we have in our pockets or smartwatches that we wear to our wrists 50 years later, they were Outstanding at the time The software created for the guiding computers required new approaches to programming that are still used today. "It was the first time that a vehicle carrying people submitted to the control of a digital computer". helps Don Eyles, a computer scientist who, recently graduated from college, landed a job at the instrument lab of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1966. He ended up working on the lunar module guidance system and wrote about his experience in a book published in 2018, "Sunburst and Luminary: A Memory of Apollo". Large body, small brainThe computers of the lunar module and the control module were identical in terms of hardware. Both weighed about 70 pounds, were locked in gold cases and bolted to the walls of their respective spacecraft. Eyles said that 10 pounds of this weight probably made up the computers' memory, made up of iron rings with wires that ran through them and enveloped them. Called string, it was limited to 2 kilobytes of memory that can be erased and rewritten. It is known today as random access memory, or RAM. Compare that to the 8 gigabytes of RAM on silicon of Samsung's latest smartphone, the Galaxy S10. . This mobile device has 4 million times more rewritable memory than computers in the Lunar and Command module. While modern computers and smartphones have high-resolution displays and can use the touch-sensitive input, voice and keyboard, Apollo guidance computers. Their display and keyboard unit, or DSKY, had a simple numeric keypad, a series of status LEDs and a digital display. The astronauts carefully composed the commands in the form of combinations of numbers, including when NASA wanted to make changes to the code. In 1971, during the Apollo 14 mission, Eyles had the task of writing a modification of the module's software. Lunar after a malfunction of the switch on the undercarriage. . New commands were needed to bypass the switch and Eyles had only two hours to rewrite the code otherwise the landing would be canceled. According to an article in Rolling Stone magazine about the incident of the time, the entry into the new program involved entering 26 sets of five-digit numbers. The code was completed and inserted into the computer with only 10 minutes to be won.MultitaskingThe software that ultimately controlled the descent to the moon, as well as other aspects of the Apollo 11 flight, was also unique to l & # 39; era. Unlike other computer systems, the Apollo Guidance Computer could perform several tasks at once, something a modern smartphone now excels at. Eyles attributes these advances to J. Halcombe "Hal" Laning, who has developed a way to prioritize multiple tasks, allowing the computer to handle multiple tasks without getting stuck. Her approach had never been tried before and she is still used in programming today. "The memory was so small and the computer so slow that it was necessary to put as much processing power as possible," said Eyles. it was at work that the famous 1202 and 1201 alarms began to sound when descending from Apollo 11 to the moon.When the lunar module went down, multiple tasks had been assigned to the computer. guidance, but priority 1 was to sail to the moon's surface. The secondary tasks were interrupted, which led the computer to warn that it had too much to do. "The screen and the keyboard went off at the same time for 10 seconds," said Eyles. Armstrong asked Mission Control to "read" the 1202 alarm and then back to Houston to find an answer. Steve Bales, a 26-year-old guiding controller, thanked Mr. Eyles for saying he was too scared to use words. The mission has continued.At today, Eyles is an artist, a writer and still works at the computer. science. As you expected, he is wearing a smartphone and appreciates how much our computing capabilities have been extended. But he has one thing he does not like about modern mobile devices. His smartphone of choice is the Apple iPhone SE, an older and smaller model that has recently been abandoned by Apple. "Smartphones are just getting too big," he said. He even went so far as to buy a second one as a backup. In case.

In the 2018 film "First Man" on Neil Armstrong's journey to become the first human to set foot on the moon, a computer plays a prominent role in the dramatic moments before the lunar module comes to life. area.

Drawn directly from the audio recording of the landing, the scene features a resounding alarm from the Apollo guidance computer, which manages the descent and motion ahead of the spacecraft. Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin pilot report a few alarms, designated 1202, then 1201. In both cases, the mission control in Houston asks the astronauts to continue, the mission is a "departure".

It's a dramatic moment, both in real life and in film, but it's also a turning point in the history of computer science. The alarm indicated that one of the key elements of the guidance computer was doing exactly what it was designed to: make landing on the moon the top priority of the computer.

While the computer systems that brought humans to the moon and to their return in July 1969 are considered primitive compared to smartphones that we have in our pockets or smartwatches that we wear to our wrists 50 years later, they have have been remarkable for their time. The software created for the guiding computers required new approaches to programming that are still used today.

"It was the first time that a vehicle carrying people was submitting to a computer," said Don Eyles, a computer scientist who recently graduated from college, got a job at the Massachusetts Institute of Instrumentation Lab. Technology in 1966. He eventually worked on the guidance system for the lunar module and wrote about his experiences in a book published in 2018 in the book "Sunburst and Luminary: An Apollo Memoir."

Big body, little brain

The computers of the lunar module and the control module were the same in terms of hardware. Both weighed about 70 pounds, were locked in gold cases and bolted to the walls of their respective spacecraft. Eyles said that 10 pounds of this weight probably made up the computers' memory, made up of iron rings with wires that ran through them and enveloped them. Called the memory string, it was limited to 2 kilobytes of memory that can be erased and rewritten, known today as Random Access Memory (RAM) or RAM.

Compare that to the 8GB of RAM on silicon of Samsung's latest smartphone, the Galaxy S10. This mobile device has 4 million times more rewritable memory than Lunar computers and the control module.

While modern computers and smartphones have high resolution displays and can use touch input, voice and keyboards for input, Apollo guidance computers were much more rudimentary. Their display and keyboard unit, or DSKY, had a simple numeric keypad, a series of status LEDs and a digital display. Orders were meticulously typed as number combinations by astronauts, including when NASA wanted to make changes to the code.

In 1971, during the Apollo 14 mission, Eyles was asked to write a modification of the Lunar module software after a switch malfunction on the LG. New commands were needed to bypass the switch and Eyles had only two hours to rewrite the code otherwise the landing would be canceled. According to an article in Rolling Stone magazine about the incident of the time, the entry into the new program involved entering 26 sets of five-digit numbers. The code was completed and inserted into the computer in just 10 minutes.

multitasking

The software that controlled the descent to the moon, as well as other aspects of the Apollo 11 flight, was also unique. Unlike other computer systems, the Apollo Guidance Computer could perform several tasks at once, something a modern smartphone now excels at. He could also prioritize the tasks entrusted to him.

Eyles attributes these advances to J. Halcombe "Hal" Laning, who has developed a way to prioritize multiple tasks, allowing the computer to handle more than one task without interruption. His approach has never been tried and is still used in programming today.

"The memory was so small and the computer so slow that it was necessary to have as much processing power as possible," said Eyles.

And it is this system that was at work when the famous alarms 1202 and 1201 began to sound during the descent of Apollo 11 on the moon.

As the lunar module went down, multiple tasks had been assigned to the guidance computer, but Priority 1 was to sail up to the moon's surface. The secondary tasks were interrupted, which caused the computer to alert that he had too much to do. It was disconcerting for astronauts.

"The screen and the keyboard went empty at the same time for 10 seconds," Eyles said.

Armstrong asked Mission Control to "read" the 1202 alarm and back in Houston, guiding experts rushed to find an answer. Steve Bales, a 26-year-old guiding controller, thanked Mr. Eyles for saying he was too scared to use words, and the mission continued.

Today, Eyles is an artist, writer and still works in computer science. As you expected, he is wearing a smartphone and appreciates how much our computing capabilities have been extended. But there is one thing he does not like about modern mobile devices.

His smartphone of choice is the Apple iPhone SE, an older and smaller model that has recently been abandoned by Apple.

"Smartphones are getting too big," he said. He even went so far as to buy a second one as a backup. In case.

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