Someone on the Rec.Models.Rockets newsgroup asked what kind of computers were run on board 'capsules'. The best answer posted was from Mike Gerszewski, a Graduate Assistant at the University of North Dakota Space Studies department. He concentrated on US programs, and his excellent reply follows:

Mercury: No computers on board, ground systems used IBM 709 & 7090 computers developed for the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System. An additional system was added to solve communication problems with geographically distant ground stations, a 7281 I Data Communications Channel.

Ranger, Surveyor and Early Mariner Unmanned Probes used sequencers.

Apollo Age
Gemini:
The Gemini Digital Computer. IBM received the contract for the GDC on April 19, 1962. It weighed approximately 59 pounds, performed more than 7,000 calculations per second, and required 1.35 cubic feet of space. It used a magnetic core memory, which was originally deisgned for the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE). The GDC failed at re-entry during the flight of James McDivitt and Ed White. They had to manually de-orbit and landed 80 miles off course.

Apollo: The Apollo guidance and navigation computer was designed by MIT.

Skylab: NASA went with IBM again and the system was designed around an off-the-shelf version of the IBM 4Pi processor, a direct predecessor to the System /360. This is the first time I saw when a system that implemented microcode was flown in space.

Voyager, Galileo: Used a distributed computing system designed by JPL.

Space Transportation System (Shuttle):
Initial design for the main computer was a repackaged version of the F-15 fighter jet's IBM's AP-1, called the IBM AP-101, based on the IBM 4Pi processor. The IBM AP-101 was a collective effort between IBM and Rockwell International. The size of the AP-101's memory was settled on as 32K, but later in the software engineering process the memory requirements grew to over 700K.

The first use of Open Source in space was when Debian GNU/Linux flew on the shuttle in 1997 controlling a hydroponics experiment. This was most likely on an IBM laptop, but I didn't find any concrete references to this.

I don't know who the contractor was for the main computer aboard the ISS, but the individual astronauts use IBM laptops, running MS software, for everyday ops.

So just as home computers can be traced back to military computers, so can spacecraft computers, perhaps more directly.

Posted by: Ted at 07:58 PM | category: Space Program
Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 395 words, total size 3 kb.

(excerpted from this article)

NASA's decision to launch a fresh two-man crew to the International Space Station last weekend came over the strenuous objections of mid-level scientists and physicians who warned that deteriorating medical equipment and air and water monitoring devices aboard the orbiting laboratory posed increasing safety risks for the crew, according to space agency documents and interviews.

There is a history of tension over health issues between conservative medical personnel, on one side, and engineers and astronauts eager to fly, on the other, NASA insiders say. However, in what some medical personnel described this week as a chilling echo of the decision-making leading up to the Columbia space shuttle disaster, arguments in favor of scrubbing the latest crew replacement mission and temporarily shuttering the space station were overruled by managers concerned with keeping the facility occupied.

When the shuttles were grounded after the Columbia accident, the facility lost its major supply line and left NASA heavily dependent on the Russians and other partners to keep the space station operating. The Russian spacecraft, however, can transport only a small fraction of the cargo and equipment that the shuttles can. As a result, construction of the incomplete space station is at a standstill, and the customary three-person crews have been replaced with caretaker crews of two, who now spend much of their time doing maintenance and a minimal amount doing scientific research.

Posted by: Ted at 07:21 AM | category: Space Program
Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 238 words, total size 2 kb.

Successful manned launch for China. Now the next step is getting Taikonaut Lt. Col. Yang Liwei home safely.

"I will not disappoint the motherland," Sina.com, the country's leading Web site, quoted him as saying. "I will complete each movement with total concentration. And I will gain honor for the People's Liberation Army and for the Chinese nation."

Why is it that these Communists always have to sound like freakin' robots? How about a little emotion? Ya did good, go ahead and show it.

Nice photo of the launch here.

Update: More cool photos here, including shots of the Chinese version of 'Cape Canaveral' and a nice profile drawing of the rocket itself.

And from the Encyclopedia Aeronautica, a page chock full o' information and links about the Shenzhou-5.

Final Update: He landed safe and sound, 3 miles from the targeted point (according to Chinese officials). China, like Russia, returns it's capsules to land instead of at sea like the US.

Posted by: Ted at 10:54 AM | category: Space Program
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 168 words, total size 1 kb.

TITAN II SET TO LAUNCH

Vandenberg AFB News Release

(Vandenberg AFB, OCT 10) The era of Titan II space boosters comes to a close Wednesday as the last Titan II blasts off of Space Launch Complex-4 West here. The launch window is from 9:17 to 9:28* a.m. The rocket will carry a 4,200-pound Defense Meteorological Satellite Program payload into low Earth orbit approximately 458 nautical miles above the Earth. This is the first DMSP launch in four years. The DMSP satellite constellation monitors the Earth's atmosphere and oceans providing nearly complete coverage of global cloud distribution every six hours.

This final launch is a joint effort between the men and women of the 30th Space Wing, Space and Missile Systems Center, Lockheed Martin, and Aerojet. The Titan program is being phased out as the Air Force moves toward the more cost-effective, efficient Evolved Expendable launch vehicle program.

The first Titan II rocket took off from Vandenberg AFB Sept. 5, 1988. There have been 70 Titan II missile and rocket launches from Vandenberg AFB, according to the 30th Space Wing historian.

Posted by: Ted at 04:05 PM | category: Space Program
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 190 words, total size 1 kb.

Jeopardy answer: what penguins get from sitting on the ice.

Using satellites in orbit, scientists are studying ice-locked oases called polynyas and their thriving populations of penguins.

The researchers used data from two satellites: NASA's Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer. See images here.

It's enough to make a tree-hugger cry. Imagine using evil technology to non-invasively study some of God's happy creatures.

Posted by: Ted at 05:37 PM | category: Space Program
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 81 words, total size 1 kb.

Victor left the following comment on my post about spacecraft propulsion concepts.

Ted, pick up a copy of the Nov 2003 issue of Discover magazine (cover story: "How Long Can The Human Body Last?"). It has an inteview with Dr. Sagan's widow, Ann Druyan, which discusses the Cosmos 1 solar sail spacecraft. BTW, at the end of the interview, it says an extended version of the interview is on discover.com but I can't find it to save my life.

Discover certainly doesn't make it easy to find, that's for sure. Then I realized that they don't have the November issue online yet. But I did find a related article from August 2003. They don't allow direct links, but here's how you can get to it. From Discover's main page, click the Recent Issues button on the left. Scroll down to the August 2003 issue and click the very first article, titled Star Trek.

Why bother? Because reading the article, you'll find passages like these:

About 10 years from now, NASA plans to launch a mission called Terrestrial Planet Finder, a space telescope specifically designed to detect another Earth. The odds are good that a survey of 150 or so nearby stars will reveal at least one small, Earth-like planet.

You know we're already working towards getting there once we find it. It's early in the development process, but we are working on it.

The physics is not out of reach," says Robert Frisbee, an engineer who directs advanced propulsion concepts studies at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. His job, and his lifelong dream, is to find a way to master interstellar travel. He is studying five distinct propulsion technologies that could get an astronaut from here to Alpha Centauri in less than 50 years.

The article goes on to talk about the five technologies, which include the aforementioned light sail, referred to as a laser sail. This is a comprehensive overview of the challenges involved in going to another solar system. Food, water, air, gravity, psychology, and more. There are a number of good links at the end of the article too.

"What we're talking about here is not fantasy," Frisbee says. "It's only science fiction until someone does it"."

The meek may inherit the earth, my great-grandkids are going to the stars.

Posted by: Ted at 11:28 AM | category: Space Program
Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 393 words, total size 3 kb.

In June of this year, a team consisting of professionals and students from California State University, Long Beach successfully conducted a static test firing of their aerospike rocket engine design.

This was followed up last month by an in-flight test.

"Several seconds later [after liftoff] it abruptly pitched ninety degrees and demonstrated unstable operation until finally transitioning into a ballistic terminal descent."

That's geek-speak for "Lawn-dart."

"The subsequent impact with the desert floor destroyed student payloads provided by a USC/JPL team and another from Cerritos High School, but the aft section with the aerospike survived relatively intact. Preliminary analysis indicates that the most probable cause for the observed flight behavior is that part of the engine's graphite exit outer ring experienced excessive and asymmetric erosion, which in turn created a side thrust component."

There are a couple of key points here. First, notice that one of the payloads riding this rocket was designed and developed by a high school. I'll do a post in the near future on the CanSat program, it's pretty cool. Second, there's absolutely nothing wrong with this kind of failure because that's how you learn. They'll analyze the remains (the important bits survived relatively intact) and figure out what improvements need to be made. Then they'll try again. And again, as often as needed. This is solid scientific method in action, with a viable application waiting at the end of the development cycle.

Follow this link for more information about the concept behind aerospike engines and how they differ from standard rocket engines.

Posted by: Ted at 08:05 PM | category: Space Program
Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 259 words, total size 2 kb.

1 So, how come on this rocket they have a little spiky doohicky on the back of the thruster thingo?

Posted by: Victor at October 08, 2003 08:52 AM (L3qPK)

2 I'll ask Peter.

(beavis) heh heh, heh heh. he said 'embiggens'. heh heh. (/beavis)

Posted by: Ted at October 08, 2003 11:18 AM (ULW3r)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

They're keeping it quiet to minimize embarrassment in case of problems, but it looks like sometime next week is the likely launch date.

Posted by: Ted at 10:07 PM | category: Space Program
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 29 words, total size 1 kb.

Current rockets use solid or liquid chemical propulsion, some of our current space probes use Ion engines - so did Darth Vader. Star Trek has Impulse and Warp drive, and the first Motie contacted used light sails.

You can find an interesting overview of spaceflight proplusion concepts here.

Posted by: Ted at 08:52 PM | category: Space Program
Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 52 words, total size 1 kb.

I've been collecting links and making notes for an upcoming biography of Robert Goddard, the Father of American Rocketry.

Instead, you should read this, because Chris Winter has already done a magnificent job telling the story of this fascinating man and his accomplishments.

Thanks to Spacecraft for the pointer.

Posted by: Ted at 06:34 PM | category: Space Program
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 57 words, total size 1 kb.

Nigeria, Great Britain, Turkey, and South Korea all shared a ride with two Russian military satellites. Photo here.

Posted by: Ted at 07:54 PM | category: Space Program
Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 26 words, total size 1 kb.

Besides my little niche fanatasism about space, there are some fine people out there writing about space, science, and the technology thereof. They're also all smarter than me, which is why I try to compensate by using words like 'thereof' (twice now). They write about a variety of other topics too, so check them out and tell them Ted says hey.

Rocket Man writes from an insiders point of view, because he works for the aerospace industry. Geez, that sounds dull. He's not, I just need writing help.

Spacecraft is a new one to me. He sent a nice email of introduction and put a mention of Rocket Jones on his blog, which sent a nice bit of traffic my way. For everyone who followed the link from his site, you should come back here each and every day, because I'm going to talk him into having a test at the end of the semester, just about me. Thereof.

Rocket Forge. Good stuff.

Samizdata. I just found out about these guys. So far, so very good.

Terrestrial Musings has been on my links roster for awhile now. If you haven't already, you should.

Winds of Change posts some excellent stuff about the space program on occasion. Same deal people. The link has been there, take advantage!

Laughing Wolf. NASA. Cooking. A man after my own heart. Wait, that just sounds paranoid, doesn't it?

USS Clueless. Stephen Den Beste gets into a good meaty science post once in a while. Fun to read. I probably misspelled his name, which is why I'm not prominently displayed on his blogroll. That and his damnably ethical behavior, which gets in the way of a good blackmail scheme.

Now Jeff at doesn't write about space, but his blog name Alphecca is named after a star he found on the star chart hanging next to his desk. Good enough for me.

Everyone needs a little down time when you can relax and play and get silly. But you also need to exercise the mind on occasion, to work that brain and the thought processes by chewing through something not thoroughly familiar. Collectively, these guys are 'brain taffy'. Yes, that was another blatant attempt at Google hits.

Brain Taffy.
Boobs.
Thereof.

Posted by: Ted at 10:20 AM | category: Space Program
Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 380 words, total size 3 kb.

The European Space Agency is ready to launch it's first ever lunar mission this weekend. Carried aloft by an Ariane 5 rocket, the payload will be put into orbit around the moon, where it will map the surface.

The interesting thing about this probe is the use of a low-thrust ion engine. NASA's Deep Space 1 probe was the first to use ion propulsion.

Posted by: Ted at 10:51 PM | category: Space Program
Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 70 words, total size 1 kb.

1 The Ariane is a French rocket, isn't it? Won't it surrender to the little green men?

OK, there's a better joke in there somewhere.

Posted by: Victor at September 27, 2003 05:24 PM (FNHVL)

2 The Ariane program started off well, but hit a rough spot when their new and improved version tended to blow up.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is a consortium dominated by France.

Posted by: Ted at September 27, 2003 08:00 PM (2sKfR)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Visit the USS Clueless (which is anything but), and find a wonderful explanation about why it was decided to crash the Galileo probe into Jupiter. Plenty of good links too. If you like science, space, physics, or mathematics, you'll enjoy the read.

Posted by: Ted at 11:52 AM | category: Space Program
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 46 words, total size 1 kb.

I mentioned in passing that the Chinese would be making their first attempt at manned space flight, probably around the first of October. As the Brazilians learned earlier this year, accidents can happen at any time and quickly turn triumph into tragedy. The Chinese have learned this lesson as well. Then again, like any totalitarian society, what's a few peons killed when you have an opportunity to steal technology?

Posted by: Ted at 04:40 PM | category: Space Program
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 75 words, total size 1 kb.

For the science inclined among us:

After eight years orbiting Jupiter, NASA's Galileo space probe will end its long mission on Sunday by plunging through the Jovian cloud tops and smashing into the giant planet -- collecting data as it goes.

I don't think our successes get nearly enough press. Pioneer, Galileo, Voyager, Hubble, and many more. Great programs all, but people don't remember them. This satellite lasted 6 years longer than expected. More from the article:

The end doesn't sound pretty.

"The spacecraft will reach the outermost layers of Jupiter's atmosphere, which is very dense," Lopes said. "There will be a lot of friction. (Galileo) will begin to burn and crush and disintegrate and then it will just vaporize and become part of Jupiter."

Unless of course, it hits something living in that thick soup of an atmosphere. Yeah, I read too much science fiction. However it happens, my thanks to the team of engineers and scientists who concieved, designed, managed and controlled this spectacular endevour.

It just struck me... nah, I need to think this one out a little (making a note)... this might become a separate post later.

Also on the home front:

New Apollo-Style Capsules Could Replace Shuttles

Some of the preliminary designs I've seen (artist renditions) make it look kinda like the old Soviet Soyuz craft, with pieces strung together like beads. Except whereas Soyuz was circular, Apollo is wedge shaped. Interesting ideas, there'll be more about this coming out, no doubt.

Betcha we hear something interesting come October 1st. The Chinese space program is modeled on the Soviet, so announcing a flight prior to it's actual success is somewhat rare. It's easier to deny a failure if nobody knows ahead of time that you're trying. Of course, they still hedge a little bit:

"As far as I know, all the preparatory work for the launching of Shenzhou V is going very smoothly," Science and Technology Minister Xu Guanhua told a news conference.

The Chinese have had four consecutive successful test flights with their booster and Shenzhou spacecraft, so this should be same-same, except that this time they'll have taikonauts aboard. The Shenzhou craft is an updated and improved version of the Soviet Soyuz.

Hey, I think we could use a little Space Race to spur things. Let's see (talking off the top of my head here), Russia couldn't afford to go it alone, but I'm not sure they would want to partner up with Uncle Sam. They might feel it less humiliating for them to team with China. In the other corner would be the U.S., Japan, Canada, Great Britain... Would Brazil join? Maybe. France? I'd expect them to say no, just to be French, and continue to concentrate on their little niche.

Update: Over at Scientific American Online (my favorite print magazine), they have a nice article about China's space program.

Posted by: Ted at 10:46 AM | category: Space Program
Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 486 words, total size 3 kb.

America has been challenged once again, this time by terrorism. Our response this time, like every time before, is to rise up and meet the challenge. Like Japan after Pearl Harbor and the Soviet Union during the Space Race, the terrorists are being met with a national determination not expected when they threw down the gauntlet.

Since rockets are what gets me going, IÂ’m going to describe in some detail what we as a nation accomplished when we went to the moon. This is going to concentrate on the actual hardware, to give you an idea of the complexity and ingenuity involved. Links to reference sources are located at the end.
more...

Posted by: Ted at 08:32 AM | category: Space Program
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 1190 words, total size 8 kb.

Over on eBay, a nice assortment of aerospace related Zippo lighters.

Posted by: Ted at 04:21 PM | category: Space Program
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 15 words, total size 1 kb.

I like rockets. What a coincidence! Have fun.

Posted by: Ted at 04:08 PM | category: Space Program
No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 16 words, total size 1 kb.

Gus Grissom was the astronaut for the second manned suborbital flight in the Mercury series, and his capsule was named the Liberty Bell 7.

The flight was fully successful, but upon splashdown the capsule hatch prematurely opened and the capsule sank into the sea.*

The Liberty Bell 7 was finally found and recovered in 1999. The Discovery Channel did several shows on it, and it has been touring the country. It is scheduled to be reutrned 'home' and back on display at the Kansas Cosmosphere before the end of the year.

* Forget that crap from The Right Stuff, Gus Grissom was fully exonerated later by NASA after tests proved his claim that the hatch could indeed 'just blew'. (yeah, I know the quote doesn't quite fit right... deal)

Posted by: Ted at 10:59 AM | category: Space Program
Comments (3) | Add Comment
Post contains 135 words, total size 1 kb.