The first space race was won by better compute. At […]

The first space race was won by better compute. At its peak, the Apollo program consumed 50% of global IC output. Here is a peculiar transitional design from 1965, the year that Moore laid down 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑤. Thanks Ken for some awesome techno-archaeology on the treasures inside my grey box, a computer buffer from the Apollo Guidance system: “Strangely, the circuitry is constructed from little modules soldered onto the boards. Each logic gate module is a smaller circuit board, like a pseudo integrated circuit constructed from individual diodes, resistors, and transistors.” — Ken’s Righto artifact summaries are legend: https://www.righto.com/2021/06/inside-transistorized-shift-register.html