Chapter 2: Moon Machines = Moochines?

So last class we saw "Moon Machines: Navigation Computer" and it was very interesting for me to see all the things that went on "backstage" for making the moon landing a reality. All the calculations, optimizations, new developed technology and the people behind it were truly amazing, as well as making ground breaking technology on the go.

Apollo navigation system

But the thing that interested me the most was the process of how they got an initial model and then they built from there; making it smaller, more resistant, optimizing space, response time, number of processes and prioritization rules. It all started when the contract went to the MIT to develop the guidance system, even though the budding industry that had already built guidance systems was not considered. The initial navigation system was based on inertia, physical resistance of any object to any chance in motion, tested with success on an airplane, only diverging from its course to correct itself from external factors.

I also liked how the project adapted itself to fulfill the needs of reaching the moon. First, they got a functional navigation system, then they started adapting it to “space” standards, as gravity and other important factors would affect how the machinery made its calculations. They later brought aboard mathematicians to optimize calculations, as well as other programmers to remove redundancy in the navigation code. Finally, the concept of “semaphores” rose as a need to start prioritizing important tasks over other minor duties to avoid overloading the computer with unnecessary calculations when critical task were being executed.

Concluding, building a navigation system was a difficult task, facing great challenges in systems engineering, physics, mathematics and other fields. Great organization, teamwork, and precise calculations were needed to archive their goal, just as any other objective, we must discipline ourselves to reach our targets. I´m sure we will learn through the course of this class the aptitudes we need to make successful systems through careful design and architecture.

References:
Science Channel (--).Moon Machines: The Navigation Computer.

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