PDF-(BOOS)-The Apollo Guidance Computer: Architecture and Operation (Springer Praxis Books)

The technological marvel that facilitated the Apollo missions to the Moon was the onboard computer In the 1960s most computers filled an entire room but the spacecrafts computer was required to be compact and low power Although people today find it difficult to accept that it was possible to control a spacecraft using such a primitive computer it nevertheless had capabilities that are advanced even by todays standardsThis is the first book to fully describe the Apollo guidance computers architecture instruction format and programs used by the astronauts As a comprehensive account it will span the disciplines of computer science electrical and aerospace engineering However it will also be accessible to the space enthusiast In short the intention is for this to be the definitive account of the Apollo guidance computerFrank OBriens interest in the Apollo program began as a serious amateur historian About 12 years ago he began performing research and writing essays for the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal and the Apollo Flight Journal Much of this work centered on his primary interests the Apollo Guidance Computer AGC and the Lunar Module These Journals are generally considered the canonical online reference on the flights to the Moon He was then asked to assist the curatorial staff in the creation of the Cradle of Aviation Museum on Long Island New York where he helped prepare the Lunar Module simulator a LM procedure trainer and an Apollo space suit for display He regularly lectures on the Apollo computer and related topics to diverse groups from NASAs computer engineering conferences the IEEEACM computer festivals and university student groups. The book focuses on the design, testing and manufacture of the F-1 engine, but also covers its incorporation into the first stage of the Saturn V and in-flight record. It concludes with an examination of what might have been, if the F-1 had not been discarded, together with the Saturn V, at the conclusion of the Apollo program. The account draws on original documents and interviews with engineers and managers, and is illustrated by many never-before-published photographs, both colour and monochrome. The intention is for this to be the definitive account of the development of this most powerful of rocket engines. As NASA is developing an evolved version of the hydrogen-burning J-2 engine for use in the forthcoming Ares launch vehicles, the author includes development of the J-2 engine within the context of the Saturn V development, thus bringing rocket engine development up to the present and thus provide this book with a long shelf life. On 25 May 1961, John F Kennedy announced the goal of landing an American man on the Moon by the end of the decade. This challenge forced NASA to review the planned lunar landing of a three-man spaceship named Apollo in the mid-1970s. In 1962, it was decided that a specialized vehicle would accompany the main spacecraft, to make the lunar landing while the mothership remained in lunar orbit. To send these vehicles to the Moon would require the development of an enormous rocket. Development was protracted, but in December 1968 Apollo 8 was launched on a pioneering mission to perform an initial reconnaissance in lunar orbit. When Apollo 17 lifted off from the Moon in December 1972, the program was concluded. Now, at long last, there is a real prospect of a resumption of human exploration of the Moon.This book provides an overview of the origins of the Apollo program and descriptions of the ground facilities, launch vehicles and spacecraft that will serve as an invaluable single-volume \'sourcebook\' for space enthusiasts, space historians, journalists, and programme-makers on radio/TV. It supplements other books that have focused on the politics and management of the Apollo program, the astronauts, and their training and exploits. The second edition of Electronic Imaging in Astronomy: Detectors and Instrumentation describes the remarkable developments that have taken place in astronomical detectors and instrumentation in recent years -- from the invention of the charge-coupled device (CCD) in 1970 to the current era of very large telescopes, such as the Keck 10-meter telescopes in Hawaii with their laser guide-star adaptive optics which rival the image quality of the Hubble Space Telescope.Authored by one of the world s foremost experts on the design and development of electronic imaging systems for astronomy, this book has been written on several levels to appeal to a broad readership. Mathematical expositions are controlled to encourage a wider audience, especially among the growing community of amateur astronomers who own small telescopes with CCD cameras. The book can be used at the college level for a one semester introductory course on modern astronomical detectors and instruments, and as a supplement for a practical or laboratory class. But it also provides the core of a one semester course on astronomical instrumentation for new graduate (PhD) students who may very soon be faced with using, or even building, electronic imaging systems.The book contains worked examples, problems & solutions, end-of-chapter references and a glossary. This book explains how the testing program of the next-stage space exploration mission was completed. In this pre-Apollo stage, the vehicle\'s ability to move in space was demonstrated, and the dawn of a new era of operational activities in Earth orbit commenced. When Gemini 3 became the first manned flight of the highly successful series of ten missions the spring of 1965, it paved the way for Apollo to reach the Moon later in the decade. Tasked with addressing key objectives and challenges in order to gain experience and knowledge from living and working in space, as opposed to just surviving the ride, Gemini also afforded NASA with the skills that remain relevant 50 years later, on time launches, rendezvous and docking, EVA, long duration flight, and completing the flight with a safe and accurate recovery.Often in the shadow of its famous pioneering predecessor Mercury, or lost in the glory of Apollo, the two man Gemini flights provided the vital link between proving humans could survive in space for a few hours and being able to accomplish useful work during missions of up to two weeks. Building upon the success of Project Mercury, Gemini 3 provided the first step in a program that gave NASA the confidence that America could reach the Moon with Apollo by the end of the decade. The Gemini 3 flight also saw the appearance of the first member of NASA\'s second class of astronauts, a selection that has been said to have been the best group ever chosen by the space agency, some of whom participated not only in the Gemini program but also during the Apollo era.This book continues the Pioneers in Early Spaceflight series to examine each flight in the Mercury and Gemini series. Despite the challenges, Gemini 4 and its two-man crew undertook a huge gamble, and one which fortunately paid off. The mission was also the first time the mission control center at the Manned Spacecraft Center, near Houston, Texas, was utilized for monitoring the mission, commencing a tradition that continues today with the International Space Station program. David Harland opens with a review of the robotic probes, namely the Rangers which returned television before crashing into the Moon, the Surveyors which \'soft landed\' in order to investigate the nature of the surface, and the Lunar Orbiters which mapped prospective Apollo landing sites. He then outlines the historic landing by Apollo 11 in terms of what was discovered. He concludes with a review of the robotic spacecraft that made remote-sensing observations of the Moon. The book develops the scientific theme of lunar geology, and therefore will be of use as background reading for undergraduate students of planetary sciences. Highlighted as a Commemorative Edition on the cover, this second edition has a new Foreword by one of the original astronauts and a short extra section at the end previewing the prospect of a renewal of human exploration of the Moon. It includes new extra high quality graphics which are only now available and 32 pages of color illustrations. In Energiya-Buran: the Soviet Space Shuttle, the authors describe the long development path of the Soviet space shuttle system, consisting of the Energiya rocket and the Buran orbiter. The program eventually saw just one unmanned flight in November 1988 before the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union sealed its fate.After a Foreword provided by lead Buran test pilot Igor Volk, the authors look at the experience gradually accumulated in high-speed aeronautics with the development of various Soviet rocket planes and intercontinental cruise missiles between the 1930s to 1950s and the study of several small spaceplanes in the 1960s. Next the authors explain how the perceived military threat of the US Space Shuttle led to the decision in February 1976 to build a Soviet equivalent, and explore the evolution of the design until it was frozen in 1979. Following this is a detailed technical description of both Energiya and Buran and a look at nominal flight scenarios and emergency situations, highlighting similarities and differences with the US Space Shuttle.The authors then expand on the managerial aspects of the Energiya-Buran program, sum up the main design bureaus and production facilities involved in the project and describe the infrastructure needed to transport the hardware and prepare it for launch at the Baikonur cosmodrome. They go on to detail the selection and training of teams of civilian and military test pilots for Buran, crew assignments for the first manned missions and preparatory flights aboard Soyuz spacecraft.Next the focus turns to the extensive test program that preceded the first flight of Buran, notably the often trouble-plagued test firings of rocket engines, the first flight of Energiya with the enigmatic Polyus payload, test flights of subscale models and atmospheric approach and landing tests. After an analysis of Western speculation on the Soviet space shuttle effort in the pre-glasnost era, a detailed account is given of final preparations for the maiden flight of Buran and the mission itself.In the final chapters the authors look at the gradual demise of the project in the early 1990s, the fate of the Soviet orbiters and their cosmodrome infrastructure, cancelled missions, and the many planned derivatives of the Energiya rocket. Attention is also paid to technological spin-offs such as the Zenit and Sea Launch projects and the RD-180 and RD-191 rocket engines. Finally, an overview is given of alternative spaceplane proposals during and after the Buran era, including the MAKS air-launched spaceplane, the Kliper spacecraft and various single-stage-to-orbit systems.The book closes off with key specifications of the Energiya-Buran system, short biographies of the Buran pilots, an extensive list of Russian acronyms, a short bibliographical essay and a detailed index. Based largely on Russian sources, it is richly illustrated with some 250 pictures and diagrams.Although Energiya-Buran was primarily a program of unfulfilled promises and shattered dreams, it represented a major technological breakthrough for the Soviet Union and its story deserves to be told. This book describes the most complex machine ever sent to another planet: Curiosity. It is a one-ton robot with two brains, seventeen cameras, six wheels, nuclear power, and a laser beam on its head. No one human understands how all of its systems and instruments work. This essential reference to the Curiosity mission explains the engineering behind every system on the rover, from its rocket-powered jetpack to its radioisotope thermoelectric generator to its fiendishly complex sample handling system. Its lavishly illustrated text explains how all the instruments work -- its cameras, spectrometers, sample-cooking oven, and weather station -- and describes the instruments\' abilities and limitations. It tells you how the systems have functioned on Mars, and how scientists and engineers have worked around problems developed on a faraway planet: holey wheels and broken focus lasers. And it explains the grueling mission operations schedule that keeps the rover working day in and day out. How do you make a polar sundial? The book focuses on the design, testing and manufacture of the F-1 engine, but also covers its incorporation into the first stage of the Saturn V and in-flight record. It concludes with an examination of what might have been, if the F-1 had not been discarded, together with the Saturn V, at the conclusion of the Apollo program. The account draws on original documents and interviews with engineers and managers, and is illustrated by many never-before-published photographs, both colour and monochrome. The intention is for this to be the definitive account of the development of this most powerful of rocket engines. As NASA is developing an evolved version of the hydrogen-burning J-2 engine for use in the forthcoming Ares launch vehicles, the author includes development of the J-2 engine within the context of the Saturn V development, thus bringing rocket engine development up to the present and thus provide this book with a long shelf life. On 25 May 1961, John F Kennedy announced the goal of landing an American man on the Moon by the end of the decade. This challenge forced NASA to review the planned lunar landing of a three-man spaceship named Apollo in the mid-1970s. In 1962, it was decided that a specialized vehicle would accompany the main spacecraft, to make the lunar landing while the mothership remained in lunar orbit. To send these vehicles to the Moon would require the development of an enormous rocket. Development was protracted, but in December 1968 Apollo 8 was launched on a pioneering mission to perform an initial reconnaissance in lunar orbit. When Apollo 17 lifted off from the Moon in December 1972, the program was concluded. Now, at long last, there is a real prospect of a resumption of human exploration of the Moon.This book provides an overview of the origins of the Apollo program and descriptions of the ground facilities, launch vehicles and spacecraft that will serve as an invaluable single-volume \'sourcebook\' for space enthusiasts, space historians, journalists, and programme-makers on radio/TV. It supplements other books that have focused on the politics and management of the Apollo program, the astronauts, and their training and exploits. David Harland opens with a review of the robotic probes, namely the Rangers which returned television before crashing into the Moon, the Surveyors which \'soft landed\' in order to investigate the nature of the surface, and the Lunar Orbiters which mapped prospective Apollo landing sites. He then outlines the historic landing by Apollo 11 in terms of what was discovered. He concludes with a review of the robotic spacecraft that made remote-sensing observations of the Moon. The book develops the scientific theme of lunar geology, and therefore will be of use as background reading for undergraduate students of planetary sciences. Highlighted as a Commemorative Edition on the cover, this second edition has a new Foreword by one of the original astronauts and a short extra section at the end previewing the prospect of a renewal of human exploration of the Moon. It includes new extra high quality graphics which are only now available and 32 pages of color illustrations. The technological marvel that facilitated the Apollo missions to the Moon was the on-board computer. In the 1960s most computers filled an entire room, but the spacecraft\'s computer was required to be compact and low power. Although people today find it difficult to accept that it was possible to control a spacecraft using such a \'primitive\' computer, it nevertheless had capabilities that are advanced even by today\'s standards.This is the first book to fully describe the Apollo guidance computer\'s architecture, instruction format and programs used by the astronauts. As a comprehensive account, it will span the disciplines of computer science, electrical and aerospace engineering. However, it will also be accessible to the \'space enthusiast\'. In short, the intention is for this to be the definitive account of the Apollo guidance computer.Frank O\'Brien\'s interest in the Apollo program began as a serious amateur historian. About 12 years ago, he began performing research and writing essays for the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal, and the Apollo Flight Journal. Much of this work centered on his primary interests, the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) and the Lunar Module. These Journals are generally considered the canonical online reference on the flights to the Moon. He was then asked to assist the curatorial staff in the creation of the Cradle of Aviation Museum, on Long Island, New York, where he helped prepare the Lunar Module simulator, a LM procedure trainer and an Apollo space suit for display. He regularly lectures on the Apollo computer and related topics to diverse groups, from NASA\'s computer engineering conferences, the IEEE/ACM, computer festivals and university student groups. The book focuses on the design, testing and manufacture of the F-1 engine, but also covers its incorporation into the first stage of the Saturn V and in-flight record. It concludes with an examination of what might have been, if the F-1 had not been discarded, together with the Saturn V, at the conclusion of the Apollo program. The account draws on original documents and interviews with engineers and managers, and is illustrated by many never-before-published photographs, both colour and monochrome. The intention is for this to be the definitive account of the development of this most powerful of rocket engines. As NASA is developing an evolved version of the hydrogen-burning J-2 engine for use in the forthcoming Ares launch vehicles, the author includes development of the J-2 engine within the context of the Saturn V development, thus bringing rocket engine development up to the present and thus provide this book with a long shelf life. The technological marvel that facilitated the Apollo missions to the Moon was the on-board computer. In the 1960s most computers filled an entire room, but the spacecraft\'s computer was required to be compact and low power. Although people today find it difficult to accept that it was possible to control a spacecraft using such a \'primitive\' computer, it nevertheless had capabilities that are advanced even by today\'s standards.This is the first book to fully describe the Apollo guidance computer\'s architecture, instruction format and programs used by the astronauts. As a comprehensive account, it will span the disciplines of computer science, electrical and aerospace engineering. However, it will also be accessible to the \'space enthusiast\'. In short, the intention is for this to be the definitive account of the Apollo guidance computer.Frank O\'Brien\'s interest in the Apollo program began as a serious amateur historian. About 12 years ago, he began performing research and writing essays for the Apollo Lunar Surface Journal, and the Apollo Flight Journal. Much of this work centered on his primary interests, the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) and the Lunar Module. These Journals are generally considered the canonical online reference on the flights to the Moon. He was then asked to assist the curatorial staff in the creation of the Cradle of Aviation Museum, on Long Island, New York, where he helped prepare the Lunar Module simulator, a LM procedure trainer and an Apollo space suit for display. He regularly lectures on the Apollo computer and related topics to diverse groups, from NASA\'s computer engineering conferences, the IEEE/ACM, computer festivals and university student groups.