The Apollo flight computer was the first computer to use silicon IC chips. Logic hardware įollowing the use of integrated circuit (IC) chips in the Interplanetary Monitoring Platform (IMP) in 1963, IC technology was later adopted for the AGC. The flight hardware was fabricated by Raytheon, whose Herb Thaler was also on the architectural team.Īccording to Kurinec et al, the chips were welded onto the boards rather than soldered as might be expected. Laning Jr., Albert Hopkins, Richard Battin, Ramon Alonso, and Hugh Blair-Smith. The AGC was designed at the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory under Charles Stark Draper, with hardware design led by Eldon C. AGC dual 3-input NOR gate schematic Flatpack silicon integrated circuits welded to PCB in the Apollo guidance computer Connections (clockwise from top center) ground, inputs (3), output, power, output, inputs (3). The AGS could be used to take off from the Moon, and to rendezvous with the command module, but not to land.ĭesign Photograph of the dual NOR gate chip used to build the Block II Apollo Guidance Computer. the Abort Guidance System (AGS, pronounced ags) of the lunar module, to be used in the event of failure of the LM PGNCS.The Launch Vehicle Digital Computer (LVDC) on the Saturn V booster instrumentation ring.The display and keyboard (DSKY) interface of the Apollo Guidance Computer mounted on the control panel of the command module, with the flight director attitude indicator (FDAI) above Partial list of numeric codes for verbs and nouns in the Apollo Guidance Computer, printed for quick reference on a side panelĮach lunar mission had two additional computers: The AGC in the lunar module ran its Apollo PGNCS (primary guidance, navigation and control system), with the acronym pronounced as pings. The AGC in the command module was the center of its guidance, navigation and control (GNC) system. 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. Operation Īstronauts manually flew Project Gemini with control sticks, but computers flew most of Project Apollo except briefly during lunar landings. 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. 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.Īstronauts communicated with the AGC using a numeric display and keyboard called the DSKY (for "display and keyboard", pronounced "DIS-kee"). The AGC has a 16-bit word length, with 15 data bits and one parity bit. The computer's performance was comparable to the first generation of home computers from the late 1970s, such as the Apple II, TRS-80, and Commodore PET. The AGC was the first computer based on silicon integrated circuits. The AGC provided computation and electronic interfaces for guidance, navigation, and control of the spacecraft. 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).
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