The Original Space Mission. NASA computing power (past) VS a 2GB Processor (present) comparisons.?

Question

On the original space flight to the moon, i believe they used massive rooms of computers for the calculations. Considering it was not really that long ago in terms of ages.

If i was to go back in time and give them a 2GB laptop, what kind of impact would that have?

Im essentially trying to make a point in a paper, but do not really know the scale of change.

Thanks.

Answer 1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer

Here you go have fun comparing. You might need better info on the Laptop's capabilities before comparing.

The laptop would be far better.

Answer 2

A perfectly reasonable question.

I have no data on the mainframes used by NASA, i believe they were built by IBM, however the Apollo spacecraft used a computer called the Apollo Guidance Computer and had the following spec:

Word Length: 15 bits plus parity.
Fixed Memory Registers: 36,864 Words.
Erasable Memory Registors: 2.048 Words.
Number of Normal Instructions: 34.
Number of Involuntary instructions
(Increment, interrupt, etc.): 10.
Number of Interface Circuits: 227.
Memory Cycle time: 11.7 microseconds.
Addition Time: 23.4 microseconds.
Multiplication Time: 46.8 microseconds.
Number of Logic Gates: 5,600 (2,800 packages)
Volume: 0.97 cubic feet.
Weight: 70 pounds.
Power Consumption: 55 watts.

This would have been the equivelent of a home computer from the early 1980's.

It is hard to make a comparison between say a Pentium IV and a Mainframe from the 1960's for two reasons :

1) A modern PC can come in with many different specifications like different amounts of memory, hard drive space, processor speed etc.

2) The computers used in the space programme were built to perform a specific task very well whereas a modern PC is built to perfom many tasks but the performance of those many tasks can differ immensely.

So to summerize you could say the original Apollo computers were more powerful as they had a task to do and most of the time they did it.

P.S. During the Apollo XI Moon landings the computers returned 1201 and 1202 alarms, in other words computer overloads.
These alarms could be cleared in seconds.
And when Apollo XII launched, lightning struck the Saturn V rocket causing data sent to NASA to be corrupted. This was corrected in seconds by flicking a single switch.

Can you imagine trying to land on the Moon using MicroSoft Windows, it would take you a few minutes to reboot with catasrophic results!

Modern computers may be great for multi-tasking but if you want a specific task to be done then remember the old saying K.I.S.S. or (Keep It Simple Stupid)!

Answer 3

A modern laptop has far more computing power than NASA had at the time - the computer on board the Apollo command module, for example, was no more sophisticated than a modern scientific calculator, and significantly slower. The astronauts had to be capable of performing the same calculations using pencil and paper in case of computer failure - something which would be impossible today (since modern engineers would take advantage of the computing power and make the control system far more sophisticated). This was actually needed on Apollo 13 - in fact it is likely that had the equivalent system failure occurred on a craft equipped with a modern computer they might not have made it back. On the other hand one of the main problems they had (loss of power) would not have affected a modern computer so much because they use far less power.

Given the risks of space travel, it's actually quite likely that they might have decided to use the computer power to be able to send unmanned craft instead.

When I first started working in electronics I designed large "mainframe" computers - the equivalent at that time of what NASA had although I started working 20 years ago rather than 40. I currently have more memory in my mobile phone than the first computer I worked on, and probably a comparable amount of computing power.

Answer 4

This was in an Apollo 11 documentary last week!! It is thought the that total comuting power at NASA for the Moon landing then was equivalent to something between a digital watch and a mobile phone of today

Answer 5

There is no such thing as a 2 Gigabyte processor, it is a 2 gigahertz processor and to answer your question of course it would have had an impact, it is called progress.

Also there are processors available today that are nearly 4 Gigahertz and if they are supercooled they can reach well over 5 gigahertz

Answer 6

The amount of computing power available to NASA then would still have been greater than what is available in a single cpu desktop PC.

Answer 7

the 2GB laptop would have been nearly twice the power NASA had for the Apollo 11 mission

Answer 8

why don't you go back in the past and find out.

ps don't bother coming back sure the world would be fine without your present questions.