We all know the Apollo 11, although many of us were not alive from that time, we know that it was the first mission that reached the Moon. However, there are many doubts about that mission, although one thing we do know for sure is what components formed its computer.
They are much less powerful than anyone would think for something supposedly so important. But of course, it was more than 50 years ago. Comparing it to what we have now would be ridiculous. It worked, which is what matters. But if you’re curious about how it was composed, let’s take a look.
These were the components of Apollo 11
His computer was called Block II, and its components were quite curious, since it only had one processor which operated at 2 MHz, a RAM 2 KB and a storage 32KB. Ridiculous, right?
Today any mobile phone exceeds these data by hundreds or thousands of times, even the mouse you are using has better components than that computer. However, it was enough to be able to control the entire mission and land on the Moon. Something that makes us think about the reason why we don’t come back then.
Of course, although it only had a tiny screen to display information and a simple keyboard and mouse, the whole machine exceeded the 33 kilograms.
And, although it may seem very simple, until that moment no equipment like this existed, and the test by fire was done on a trip that was not at all safe, but it seems that it went well and that small set of pieces meant that today we can talk about him successfully.
Leaving aside the components, its own programming was not far behind, being very complex to ensure that a system that was going to cross limits never before achieved by humans, could function with total normality and safety, thinking down to the last inconvenience. To do this, if something failed, the last option was to restart, returning to the initial situation in the second and thus avoiding many of the possible failures. It is something that we continue to do today when something does not work well, turning it off and on, but it was not so common in those days, and even less so that the system itself did it automatically in case of an error.
And to think that now, in just a few grams, we can have something so powerful. It would have been curious to be able to see all that in person, and for the engineers who assembled that rocket to see the current possibilities; surely many headaches would have been avoided. It must be taken into account that at that time home computing did not exist, that is, very few people knew what a processor was and much less had tried it, therefore, qualified and prepared people for that were much more difficult to find.
The first PCs arrived around the year 80, and anyone who bought them already had something much more powerful in their home than the one that Apollo 11 had. But hey, we say again that it worked, which in the end was the important thing. . Surely its testing and development helped the advancement of many technologies.
