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It's more than just footage, the hardware itself can be a problem. In this same vein, here are some other old and NASA media- and hardware-related materials th

by Hoff 16y ago

It's more than just footage, the hardware itself can be a problem. In this same vein, here are some other old and NASA media- and hardware-related materials that may be of interest: http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar/22/nation/na-lunar22 http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar/22/nation/na-lunar22 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106637066 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1066370... http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/25183 http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/25183 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwbw1vhtZ0g http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwbw1vhtZ0g

mark_h 16y ago
I went to a lunch-time talk at WWDC'09 on this stuff (I forget the name of the guy presenting unfortunately, but I presume he was mentioned in those articles). Absolutely mind-blowing. Two things I recall, apart from the stunning images: * This was all done in analogue of course; the camera of the lunar orbiter had a 24" aperture from memory, and essentially a mechanical film processing lab onboard (then stitched back on earth by manual layout and re-photographing). "They knew how to build stuff back then!" * As you said, he was emphasising that while data formats are important, the hardware is even more crucial. For the tapes they were recovering, there were only 4 machines left in the world that could read them... and only one human who knew how they worked and could repair them! I went and started reading up on the long-now project after that. * Bonus recollection: the reason the tapes hadn't degraded and lost their magnetic material, like many others their age, was because the binding agent used was... whale oil. Actually, I've found the slides: http://www.slideshare.net/kcowing/presentation-by-dennis-wingo-on-the-lunar-orbiter-image-recovery-project-at-the-2009-apple-wwdc http://www.slideshare.net/kcowing/presentation-by-dennis-win... Thanks so much for the reminder.

by Hoff 16y ago

mark_h 16y ago

I went to a lunch-time talk at WWDC'09 on this stuff (I forget the name of the guy presenting unfortunately, but I presume he was mentioned in those articles). Absolutely mind-blowing. Two things I recall, apart from the stunning images: * This was all done in analogue of course; the camera of the lunar orbiter had a 24" aperture from memory, and essentially a mechanical film processing lab onboard (then stitched back on earth by manual layout and re-photographing). "They knew how to build stuff back then!" * As you said, he was emphasising that while data formats are important, the hardware is even more crucial. For the tapes they were recovering, there were only 4 machines left in the world that could read them... and only one human who knew how they worked and could repair them! I went and started reading up on the long-now project after that. * Bonus recollection: the reason the tapes hadn't degraded and lost their magnetic material, like many others their age, was because the binding agent used was... whale oil. Actually, I've found the slides: http://www.slideshare.net/kcowing/presentation-by-dennis-wingo-on-the-lunar-orbiter-image-recovery-project-at-the-2009-apple-wwdc http://www.slideshare.net/kcowing/presentation-by-dennis-win... Thanks so much for the reminder.