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Did the Apollo Guidance Computer really use 60% of the world's ICs in 1963?
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This NASA webpage makes this claim about the Apollo Guidance Computer:
By 1963, MIT - during the testing and development of the AGC Block I units - had ordered and consumed some 60% of the then world's available IC's !
Is this claim plausible? Please support your answer with references.
Some information that may help:
- Jack Kilby made the first IC in 1958. The chip did not include the wires between the components.
- Robert Noyce invented the first monolithic IC -- including the wires on the chip -- in 1959.
- This was the early "Block I" version of the AGC, which was made of 4100 three-input NOR gates, each packaged as a single gate in a TO-5 can. This was the version that flew on the unmanned flights.
- Not to be confused with the more famous "Block II" version that flew on the manned flights. That version had 2800 ICs, each a dual 3-input NOR gate in a flatpack.
- By 1963, the AGCs existed only as prototypes and for software development. You can therefore assume at most 10 copies existed. This puts an upper limit of about 41,000 ICs needed for the AGC in 1963.
history apollo-guidance-computer
asked 8 hours ago
DrSheldonDrSheldon
3,1373 gold badges15 silver badges42 bronze badges
add a comment |
This NASA webpage makes this claim about the Apollo Guidance Computer:
By 1963, MIT - during the testing and development of the AGC Block I units - had ordered and consumed some 60% of the then world's available IC's !
Is this claim plausible? Please support your answer with references.
Some information that may help:
- Jack Kilby made the first IC in 1958. The chip did not include the wires between the components.
- Robert Noyce invented the first monolithic IC -- including the wires on the chip -- in 1959.
- This was the early "Block I" version of the AGC, which was made of 4100 three-input NOR gates, each packaged as a single gate in a TO-5 can. This was the version that flew on the unmanned flights.
- Not to be confused with the more famous "Block II" version that flew on the manned flights. That version had 2800 ICs, each a dual 3-input NOR gate in a flatpack.
- By 1963, the AGCs existed only as prototypes and for software development. You can therefore assume at most 10 copies existed. This puts an upper limit of about 41,000 ICs needed for the AGC in 1963.
history apollo-guidance-computer
asked 8 hours ago
DrSheldonDrSheldon
3,1373 gold badges15 silver badges42 bronze badges
2
The claim may be more plausible if it is read as meaning 60% of the world's production of ICs at the time was going to MIT and its AGC project.
– Kaz
7 hours ago
add a comment |
This NASA webpage makes this claim about the Apollo Guidance Computer:
By 1963, MIT - during the testing and development of the AGC Block I units - had ordered and consumed some 60% of the then world's available IC's !
Is this claim plausible? Please support your answer with references.
Some information that may help:
- Jack Kilby made the first IC in 1958. The chip did not include the wires between the components.
- Robert Noyce invented the first monolithic IC -- including the wires on the chip -- in 1959.
- This was the early "Block I" version of the AGC, which was made of 4100 three-input NOR gates, each packaged as a single gate in a TO-5 can. This was the version that flew on the unmanned flights.
- Not to be confused with the more famous "Block II" version that flew on the manned flights. That version had 2800 ICs, each a dual 3-input NOR gate in a flatpack.
- By 1963, the AGCs existed only as prototypes and for software development. You can therefore assume at most 10 copies existed. This puts an upper limit of about 41,000 ICs needed for the AGC in 1963.
history apollo-guidance-computer
asked 8 hours ago
DrSheldonDrSheldon
3,1373 gold badges15 silver badges42 bronze badges
This NASA webpage makes this claim about the Apollo Guidance Computer:
By 1963, MIT - during the testing and development of the AGC Block I units - had ordered and consumed some 60% of the then world's available IC's !
Is this claim plausible? Please support your answer with references.
Some information that may help:
- Jack Kilby made the first IC in 1958. The chip did not include the wires between the components.
- Robert Noyce invented the first monolithic IC -- including the wires on the chip -- in 1959.
- This was the early "Block I" version of the AGC, which was made of 4100 three-input NOR gates, each packaged as a single gate in a TO-5 can. This was the version that flew on the unmanned flights.
- Not to be confused with the more famous "Block II" version that flew on the manned flights. That version had 2800 ICs, each a dual 3-input NOR gate in a flatpack.
- By 1963, the AGCs existed only as prototypes and for software development. You can therefore assume at most 10 copies existed. This puts an upper limit of about 41,000 ICs needed for the AGC in 1963.
history apollo-guidance-computer
history apollo-guidance-computer
asked 8 hours ago
DrSheldonDrSheldon
3,1373 gold badges15 silver badges42 bronze badges
asked 8 hours ago
DrSheldonDrSheldon
3,1373 gold badges15 silver badges42 bronze badges
asked 8 hours ago
DrSheldonDrSheldon
3,1373 gold badges15 silver badges42 bronze badges
asked 8 hours ago
DrSheldonDrSheldon
3,1373 gold badges15 silver badges42 bronze badges
asked 8 hours ago
DrSheldonDrSheldon
3,1373 gold badges15 silver badges42 bronze badges
3,1373 gold badges15 silver badges42 bronze badges
2
The claim may be more plausible if it is read as meaning 60% of the world's production of ICs at the time was going to MIT and its AGC project.
– Kaz
7 hours ago
add a comment |
2
The claim may be more plausible if it is read as meaning 60% of the world's production of ICs at the time was going to MIT and its AGC project.
– Kaz
7 hours ago
2
2
The claim may be more plausible if it is read as meaning 60% of the world's production of ICs at the time was going to MIT and its AGC project.
– Kaz
7 hours ago
The claim may be more plausible if it is read as meaning 60% of the world's production of ICs at the time was going to MIT and its AGC project.
– Kaz
7 hours ago
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
Short answer: in the 1960s, NASA was buying and testing large numbers of integrated circuits (most of which would never be used) to make the technology mature.
According to FastCompany:
The MIT Instrumentation Lab tried to design the Apollo computer using
transistors, which in the early 1960s were well-settled
technology—reliable, understandable, relatively inexpensive. But 15
months into the design effort, it became clear that transistors alone
couldn’t give the astronauts the computing power they needed to fly to
the Moon. In November 1962, MIT’s engineers got NASA’s permission to
use a very new technology: integrated circuits. Computer chips.
and
MIT, on behalf of NASA, bought so many of the early chips that it
drove the price down dramatically: from $1,000 a chip in that first
order to $15 a chip in 1963, when MIT was ordering lots of 3,000. By
1969, those basic chips cost $1.58 each, except they had significantly
more capability, and a lot more reliability, than the 1963 version.
MIT and NASA were able to do all that because for year after year,
Apollo was the No. 1 customer for computer chips in the world.
NPR concurs:
The Apollo program didn't invent the microchip, but it guaranteed a
huge early market – by 1963, Project Apollo absorbed up to 60 percent
of the U.S. supply of chips. The military also installed chips in its
Minuteman-II missiles.
Both NASA and the Air Force forced companies like Fairchild
Semiconductor to prove the chips' reliability by subjecting them to
extreme temperatures and G-forces and rigorous visual and electrical
inspections. The result? Apollo helped in part to accelerate the
silicon chip revolution, at the pace predicted by Gordon Moore's
famous law about the accelerating pace of computing power.
edited 42 mins ago
Barrington
32 bronze badges
answered 3 hours ago
BarringtonBarrington
311 bronze badge
New contributor
Barrington is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
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1 Answer
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1 Answer
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active
oldest
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active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
Short answer: in the 1960s, NASA was buying and testing large numbers of integrated circuits (most of which would never be used) to make the technology mature.
According to FastCompany:
The MIT Instrumentation Lab tried to design the Apollo computer using
transistors, which in the early 1960s were well-settled
technology—reliable, understandable, relatively inexpensive. But 15
months into the design effort, it became clear that transistors alone
couldn’t give the astronauts the computing power they needed to fly to
the Moon. In November 1962, MIT’s engineers got NASA’s permission to
use a very new technology: integrated circuits. Computer chips.
and
MIT, on behalf of NASA, bought so many of the early chips that it
drove the price down dramatically: from $1,000 a chip in that first
order to $15 a chip in 1963, when MIT was ordering lots of 3,000. By
1969, those basic chips cost $1.58 each, except they had significantly
more capability, and a lot more reliability, than the 1963 version.
MIT and NASA were able to do all that because for year after year,
Apollo was the No. 1 customer for computer chips in the world.
NPR concurs:
The Apollo program didn't invent the microchip, but it guaranteed a
huge early market – by 1963, Project Apollo absorbed up to 60 percent
of the U.S. supply of chips. The military also installed chips in its
Minuteman-II missiles.
Both NASA and the Air Force forced companies like Fairchild
Semiconductor to prove the chips' reliability by subjecting them to
extreme temperatures and G-forces and rigorous visual and electrical
inspections. The result? Apollo helped in part to accelerate the
silicon chip revolution, at the pace predicted by Gordon Moore's
famous law about the accelerating pace of computing power.
edited 42 mins ago
Barrington
32 bronze badges
answered 3 hours ago
BarringtonBarrington
311 bronze badge
New contributor
Barrington is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
Short answer: in the 1960s, NASA was buying and testing large numbers of integrated circuits (most of which would never be used) to make the technology mature.
According to FastCompany:
The MIT Instrumentation Lab tried to design the Apollo computer using
transistors, which in the early 1960s were well-settled
technology—reliable, understandable, relatively inexpensive. But 15
months into the design effort, it became clear that transistors alone
couldn’t give the astronauts the computing power they needed to fly to
the Moon. In November 1962, MIT’s engineers got NASA’s permission to
use a very new technology: integrated circuits. Computer chips.
and
MIT, on behalf of NASA, bought so many of the early chips that it
drove the price down dramatically: from $1,000 a chip in that first
order to $15 a chip in 1963, when MIT was ordering lots of 3,000. By
1969, those basic chips cost $1.58 each, except they had significantly
more capability, and a lot more reliability, than the 1963 version.
MIT and NASA were able to do all that because for year after year,
Apollo was the No. 1 customer for computer chips in the world.
NPR concurs:
The Apollo program didn't invent the microchip, but it guaranteed a
huge early market – by 1963, Project Apollo absorbed up to 60 percent
of the U.S. supply of chips. The military also installed chips in its
Minuteman-II missiles.
Both NASA and the Air Force forced companies like Fairchild
Semiconductor to prove the chips' reliability by subjecting them to
extreme temperatures and G-forces and rigorous visual and electrical
inspections. The result? Apollo helped in part to accelerate the
silicon chip revolution, at the pace predicted by Gordon Moore's
famous law about the accelerating pace of computing power.
edited 42 mins ago
Barrington
32 bronze badges
answered 3 hours ago
BarringtonBarrington
311 bronze badge
New contributor
Barrington is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
Short answer: in the 1960s, NASA was buying and testing large numbers of integrated circuits (most of which would never be used) to make the technology mature.
According to FastCompany:
The MIT Instrumentation Lab tried to design the Apollo computer using
transistors, which in the early 1960s were well-settled
technology—reliable, understandable, relatively inexpensive. But 15
months into the design effort, it became clear that transistors alone
couldn’t give the astronauts the computing power they needed to fly to
the Moon. In November 1962, MIT’s engineers got NASA’s permission to
use a very new technology: integrated circuits. Computer chips.
and
MIT, on behalf of NASA, bought so many of the early chips that it
drove the price down dramatically: from $1,000 a chip in that first
order to $15 a chip in 1963, when MIT was ordering lots of 3,000. By
1969, those basic chips cost $1.58 each, except they had significantly
more capability, and a lot more reliability, than the 1963 version.
MIT and NASA were able to do all that because for year after year,
Apollo was the No. 1 customer for computer chips in the world.
NPR concurs:
The Apollo program didn't invent the microchip, but it guaranteed a
huge early market – by 1963, Project Apollo absorbed up to 60 percent
of the U.S. supply of chips. The military also installed chips in its
Minuteman-II missiles.
Both NASA and the Air Force forced companies like Fairchild
Semiconductor to prove the chips' reliability by subjecting them to
extreme temperatures and G-forces and rigorous visual and electrical
inspections. The result? Apollo helped in part to accelerate the
silicon chip revolution, at the pace predicted by Gordon Moore's
famous law about the accelerating pace of computing power.
edited 42 mins ago
Barrington
32 bronze badges
answered 3 hours ago
BarringtonBarrington
311 bronze badge
New contributor
Barrington is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Short answer: in the 1960s, NASA was buying and testing large numbers of integrated circuits (most of which would never be used) to make the technology mature.
According to FastCompany:
The MIT Instrumentation Lab tried to design the Apollo computer using
transistors, which in the early 1960s were well-settled
technology—reliable, understandable, relatively inexpensive. But 15
months into the design effort, it became clear that transistors alone
couldn’t give the astronauts the computing power they needed to fly to
the Moon. In November 1962, MIT’s engineers got NASA’s permission to
use a very new technology: integrated circuits. Computer chips.
and
MIT, on behalf of NASA, bought so many of the early chips that it
drove the price down dramatically: from $1,000 a chip in that first
order to $15 a chip in 1963, when MIT was ordering lots of 3,000. By
1969, those basic chips cost $1.58 each, except they had significantly
more capability, and a lot more reliability, than the 1963 version.
MIT and NASA were able to do all that because for year after year,
Apollo was the No. 1 customer for computer chips in the world.
NPR concurs:
The Apollo program didn't invent the microchip, but it guaranteed a
huge early market – by 1963, Project Apollo absorbed up to 60 percent
of the U.S. supply of chips. The military also installed chips in its
Minuteman-II missiles.
Both NASA and the Air Force forced companies like Fairchild
Semiconductor to prove the chips' reliability by subjecting them to
extreme temperatures and G-forces and rigorous visual and electrical
inspections. The result? Apollo helped in part to accelerate the
silicon chip revolution, at the pace predicted by Gordon Moore's
famous law about the accelerating pace of computing power.
edited 42 mins ago
Barrington
32 bronze badges
answered 3 hours ago
BarringtonBarrington
311 bronze badge
New contributor
Barrington is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 42 mins ago
Barrington
32 bronze badges
edited 42 mins ago
Barrington
32 bronze badges
edited 42 mins ago
Barrington
32 bronze badges
32 bronze badges
answered 3 hours ago
BarringtonBarrington
311 bronze badge
New contributor
Barrington is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
answered 3 hours ago
BarringtonBarrington
311 bronze badge
answered 3 hours ago
BarringtonBarrington
311 bronze badge
311 bronze badge
New contributor
Barrington is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
Barrington is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
add a comment |
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The claim may be more plausible if it is read as meaning 60% of the world's production of ICs at the time was going to MIT and its AGC project.
– Kaz
7 hours ago