Moon Machines: The Navigation Computer

In this blog I will discuss the documentary watched in class, titled “Moon Machines: The Navigation Computer” produced by the Science Channel. The documentary is about the computer created for the Apollo missions to the moon.

Its not the first time I’ve watched this documentary, but I still find msyelf captivated by the genius of the people behind this project. Nowadays we have computers that are far more powerful (and smaller) than the ones used in Apollo missions. But, for its time, the Apollo computers where state of the art and required a tremendous amount of engineering.

The programming done in the computers of the Apollo missions where somewhat “primitive”, since they used cables going through rings to specify if it indicated a “1” or a “0”. Because of this, the programming took a lot of time, and it was really important it didn't have any errors. Nevertheless, they achieved a lot with this method and where successful in every mission. If we compared that type of programming to modern day programming, it would be like comparing stones to AK-47’s, because we have so much power with todays programming languages, that we can use to attack and solve a broader range of problems. 

Its really interesting to see how computers have evolved since then. The computers used in rocket skips nowadays are far more complex and do so much more, that make the computers in the Apollo missions seem like pocket calculators. Since the Apollo missions, NASA has done countless missions to space, and even created the international space station where a lot of computer systems are used.

Advances in this area are still being made and it looks very promising for the future. Companies like SpaceX are building rocketships with incredible efficiency that will hopefully help us get to Mars.
 

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