The Apollo Guidance Computer Architecture and Operation
By today's standards, the on-board computer used by the Apollo astronaut's was a primitive affair, but in an age when most computers filled an entire room, this was small, required little power, and incorporated several technologies that were revolutionar
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Frank O'Brien
The Apollo Guidance Computer Architecture and Operation
Published in association with
Praxis Publishing Chichester, UK
Mr Frank O'Brien West Windsor New Jersey USA SPRINGER±PRAXIS BOOKS IN SPACE EXPLORATION SUBJECT ADVISORY EDITOR: John Mason, M.B.E., B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D. ISBN 978-1-4419-0876-6 Springer Berlin Heidelberg New York Springer is a part of Springer Science + Business Media (springer.com)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2009936113
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers. # Copyright, 2010 Praxis Publishing Ltd., Chichester, UK. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. Cover design: Jim Wilkie Copy Editor: David M. Harland Typesetting: BookEns Ltd, Royston, Herts., UK Printed in Germany on acid-free paper
Contents List of figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Author's preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii 0
The state of the art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . From whence we came: early computing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Outside the computer room: early computing in aviation and space . . . . . Computing in manned spacecraft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Defining computer ``power'' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The evolution of computing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Technology acquisition: consumers vs the aerospace industry . . . . . . . . . .
1 1 2 3 4 7 8
1
The AGC hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Overview of Chapter 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Physical characteristics of the AGC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Properties of number systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Double precision numbers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
