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integrated circuits were only invented a couple years before the Apollo moon missions started in 1961 imagine an alternate timeline where that didn't happen, c

by ck2 2mo ago

integrated circuits were only invented a couple years before the Apollo moon missions started in 1961 imagine an alternate timeline where that didn't happen, could moon landing have even happened with vacuum-tubes? highly unlikely

bell-cot 2mo ago
In between IC's and vacuum tubes, isn't there discrete transistor logic?
- adrian_b 2mo ago
  Yes. During the time of the Apollo project, from 1964 to 1969, the fastest computer of the world was CDC 6600, which was made with discrete transistors (and which greatly annoyed IBM, because a much smaller company had been able to make computers faster than theirs; the main designers of CDC 6600 had been Jim Thornton and Seymour Cray, who later became well known for the Cray supercomputers). Integrated circuits became ubiquitous only during the late sixties.
- ck2 2mo ago
  btw this is what IC chips looked like during Apollo * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invention_of_the_integrated_circuit#/media/File:Agc_nor2.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invention_of_the_integrated_ci...
  - adrian_b 2mo ago
    This is how they looked after removing the top of their package, not how they looked inside the computer. This is how the silicon die looked like, with the ten bonded gold wires that went to the pins of the package.
alnwlsn 2mo ago
I think it would have been more likely to be some kind of mechanical analog computer full of gears and cams (which some planes and missiles did use for guidance). Probably needing more support from the ground. Apollo did carry tubes also, in the radio transmitters.
nielsbot 2mo ago
Not sure if you've seen this video about how the Apollo computers were made, but it's really fascinating. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndvmFlg1WmE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndvmFlg1WmE (They also anachronistically refer to women as girls which feels weird nowadays.)

by ck2 2mo ago

bell-cot 2mo ago

In between IC's and vacuum tubes, isn't there discrete transistor logic?

adrian_b 2mo ago
Yes. During the time of the Apollo project, from 1964 to 1969, the fastest computer of the world was CDC 6600, which was made with discrete transistors (and which greatly annoyed IBM, because a much smaller company had been able to make computers faster than theirs; the main designers of CDC 6600 had been Jim Thornton and Seymour Cray, who later became well known for the Cray supercomputers). Integrated circuits became ubiquitous only during the late sixties.
ck2 2mo ago
btw this is what IC chips looked like during Apollo * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invention_of_the_integrated_circuit#/media/File:Agc_nor2.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invention_of_the_integrated_ci...
- adrian_b 2mo ago
  This is how they looked after removing the top of their package, not how they looked inside the computer. This is how the silicon die looked like, with the ten bonded gold wires that went to the pins of the package.

alnwlsn 2mo ago

I think it would have been more likely to be some kind of mechanical analog computer full of gears and cams (which some planes and missiles did use for guidance). Probably needing more support from the ground. Apollo did carry tubes also, in the radio transmitters.

nielsbot 2mo ago

Not sure if you've seen this video about how the Apollo computers were made, but it's really fascinating. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndvmFlg1WmE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndvmFlg1WmE (They also anachronistically refer to women as girls which feels weird nowadays.)