Apollo Guidance Computer Part 21: Playing moon landing on our restored AGC!

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5 жыл бұрын

The repaired AGC should provide us with 1960's best real life video game ever. Thanks to our improvised PIPA accelerometer, we can now trick the AGC into thinking it's flying a LM. We fly through the whole landing sequence: program P63, braking, P64 approach, and P65 landing. We don't quite fly it in a closed loop as intended, and the landing is soft only in one direction, but that is the hell of a video game.
Some relevant links:
Playlist of the restoration series: • Apollo Guidance Comput...
Block I AGC period documentary: • MIT Science Reporter-"...
Inertial navigation system documentary: • Video
Schematics: www.ibiblio.org/apollo/links....
and: archive.org/details/agc_handb...
Mike's AGC backplane viewer: apolloguidance.computer/200310...
AGC software repo: github.com/virtualagc/virtualagc
The Ultimate Apollo Guidance Computer Talk: • 34C3 - The Ultimate A...

Пікірлер: 284

@JamieWhitehorn 5 жыл бұрын

"We choose to restore this AGC in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win." Awesome, guys, just awesome 😎 👏🏻👍🏻😀

@kyleb209 5 жыл бұрын

Jamie Whitehorn, well played sir. I got a big kick out of that.

@KingJellyfishII 5 жыл бұрын

Ultimate flight simulator! Download now! (Smallprint: requires actual AGC)

@KalonReeves 5 жыл бұрын

Improvised PIPA accelerometer not included.

@TheSoulfulGuitarist 5 жыл бұрын

Now with YAW CONTROL!

$@frac$

@frac 5 жыл бұрын

Great. Up goes the price of EBay AGCs ;-)

@bborkzilla 5 жыл бұрын

There's probably an app for that!

@kloetili 5 жыл бұрын

One small step for Marc, one giant leap for nerdkind

@TrainDriver186 5 жыл бұрын

That's one small step for *a* Marc :)

$@frac$

@frac 5 жыл бұрын

@@TrainDriver186 Heh. I've also seen "That's one small step for [a] Marc" ;-)

@gertraba4484 4 жыл бұрын

jeeese, we played ZAXXON ans Lunar Lander easier in the arcades

@RobVK8FOES 5 жыл бұрын

I rarely ever comment on youtube content but today I will because this has been one of, if not the coolest video series I've ever seen. Thank you for taking me on the journey. Congratulations on the restoration.

@NicolajTopp 5 жыл бұрын

Unknown Contact, these could be my words ... absolutely incredible.

@taylorbroad8941 5 жыл бұрын

Connect this to Orbiter Space Flight Sim. Would love to see the AGC do an actual landing using a real flight model.

@SuzuranMajere 5 жыл бұрын

Several people have come up with the idea over the years, but the general consensus is that the data rate required to keep a useful framerate would require expensive FPGA stuff. USB and an Arduino just won't cut it.

@indianajones91 5 жыл бұрын

@@SuzuranMajere Hmm, or maybe, Mike and I (mainly Mike) already figured out how to do this and they will do demonstration landings using NASSP!

@kneecaps2000 5 жыл бұрын

@@indianajones91 Just need to get a Zerlina rope manufactured:) :)

@indianajones91 5 жыл бұрын

@@kneecaps2000 Haha, I gave Mike a Zerlina erasable memory state from before PDI and with the rope simulator they can load any version they want. Just in case they have to impress Don Eyles. Oh, and I gave him some Sunburst scenarios as well.

@kneecaps2000 5 жыл бұрын

@@indianajones91 You really covered all the bases :) things have come a long way haven't they. When are you writing a book?

@smgvbest 5 жыл бұрын

Best TV since the original moon landing. great seeing the recreation on a real AGC and DSKY. If KZfaq has best video of the year awards this would win.

@MarkWebbJohnson 5 жыл бұрын

We copy you on the ground. You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks a lot.

@rogerwhittle2078 5 жыл бұрын

Mark Webb-Johnson. That phrase - was it Gene Kranz that said it? - is my all time favourite phrase from the whole Apollo programme. My second favourite is all after "Contact light" until; "Tranquility base here, the Eagle has landed." Because I don't know what they were likely to say, it's difficult to figure out what they do say, only that it was massively important they say it, before they announce they were down.

@truesus1718 5 жыл бұрын

@@rogerwhittle2078 It wasn't Kranz, he was flight director. It would have been one of the CAPCOMs. Maybe Charlie Duke?

@tabsoft7045 5 жыл бұрын

truesus1718 It was Charlie Duke.

@kbates666 5 жыл бұрын

Two in one night!!!! Marc I love you

@nisstyre911 5 жыл бұрын

What a ride! Watched your whole restoration! That is so cool! Thank you for all the great learning from this! I remember watching the actual landing as a kid back in 69!

@kallewirsch2263 5 жыл бұрын

Now What you really need is some sort of rack, where stepper motors are able to move a model of the LM. The controlling computer evaluates the engine and RCT commands to move the model and at the same time simulates what the accelerometer and gyro readings would be and feeds this back to the AGC. No fancy computer graphics! The AGC deserves a real physical simulation!

@indianajones91 5 жыл бұрын

Because Marc was a bit confused about this, the initial attitude can be constructed like this: at the landing site you would have 0/0/0, that is what the IMU is aligned to have. You are obviously flying engine first, so you have to pitch up 90°. So 0/90/0. Apollo 11 was flying heads down the first minutes after PDI, so (due to roll angle convention) you get 180/270/0. And PDI happens about 15° of orbital travel before the landing site, so you have to add 15° more pitch and that gives the 180° roll, 285° pitch, 0° yaw you saw on the DSKY.

@CuriousMarc 5 жыл бұрын

Ah! Thanks so much! Great explanation!

@ROBERTO1OOO 5 жыл бұрын

Another thing is that the AGC had its angles divided by two, so it could fit 3 decimal points instead of 2, which gave it a lot more precision.

@indianajones91 5 жыл бұрын

@@ROBERTO1OOO That's only true for the displayed geographic longitude in some programs, like the landmark tracking program P22 of the command module computer, where you want that extra precision (0.001° instead of 0.01° for the last digit). It's not the case for noun 18.

@ROBERTO1OOO 5 жыл бұрын

@@indianajones91 right, it was for the landmarks so it the difference would be just 300 meters or 600 instead of kilometers, true, thanks

@M1stersupersonic8 5 жыл бұрын

The orbital travel bit reminds me of that one time a Soyuz LES activated 27 minutes after an launch abort. Turns out the Earth's rotation turned the gyros far enough to make the spacecraft think it was off course by 7 degrees, triggering the LES.

@nathanwoodruff9422 5 жыл бұрын

You need to have a stepper motor on each x, y, and z, potentiometer. When the computer opens up the fuel valve for the engine have the stepper motor turn the potentiometer a corresponding amount.

@electronash 5 жыл бұрын

This is gonna be great. Ever since I started messing with translating the AGC schematics into Verilog (about ten years ago now), I dreamed of trying to use it to "land". Maybe using a small LM-shaped ROV in a fish tank, or something. lol

@Chriva 5 жыл бұрын

You are everywhere :D

@electronash 5 жыл бұрын

@@Chriva I don't get out much. lol I'm like the Guru Larry of watching and commenting on nerdy channels. :p

@Chriva 5 жыл бұрын

@@electronash Can't say I'm "better". In front of my screen is where I'm happy :P

@electronash 5 жыл бұрын

@@Chriva I may have to just send off for these PCBs soon. I did this design around 2010, and never had it made. I'll have to manually route the board, too, because I used the evil autorouter back then, and it looks terrible. lol i.imgur.com/gktnUZd.png It was meant to hook up to the FPGA AGC, but I didn't quite get it booting, before moving on to other projects (usually retro console related). But since it's the Apollo 11 anniversary atm, I think I need to do a bit of AGC TLC. (would also be good to do a much more accurate PCB front panel for the DSKY, with some blue/green LEDs to simulate the original EL display.)

@f16pilotjumper 5 жыл бұрын

Use a quadcopter, with the quadcopter setup to simulate lunar gravity (like the lunar landing training vehicle)

@kev-the-windsurfer. 5 жыл бұрын

I binge watched this series up to Part 19, then as soon as the other ones came online, I was right there watching, I am speechless as to what you guys have achieved here, nothing short of incredible!! And, just in time!!! I am very impressed with Mike, he's a very switched on young man!! But everyone has incredible talent in the required areas and some of the things you guys were able to do were extraordinary!!

@TheLavadiver 5 жыл бұрын

Love this series! Awesome insight to the computing equipment that guided Apollo!

@wheeln24-79 5 жыл бұрын

That's awesome if the agc was doing that computing! Great job guys! Happy 50th Anniversary apollo 11!

@wildstar1063 5 жыл бұрын

Someone need to write some physics correct graphics of the LEM and Moon and tie them the the AGC so you can watch what it is doing to the LEM to get it down.

@RobSchofield 5 жыл бұрын

Without any doubt, the very BEST video playlist I have ever watched on YT. Exceptional!

@MVVblog 5 жыл бұрын

I have only to thank you all for ever, because you have taken me with you with youtube, in this astonishing restoration. Thanks to you guys now i littelarry know how it works! And this is FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations on the restoration!

@HeikoRehm 5 жыл бұрын

What a journey following this amazing piece of history of the Apollo missions, its AGC and Marc with his Restauration Team. Thanks a bunch!

@CursedLcie 5 жыл бұрын

This has been the most exciting series to follow on youtube! I've loved every moment! You guys are freaking geniuses! Congrats on fixing your AGC! Well minus that diode at the end. You really know how to make engineering dramatic haha. Also I have to know where mike got that Apollo Guidance, navigation and control tshirt? That shirt rocks.

@Jimfoxyboy 5 жыл бұрын

I know you are joking when you say "A bunch of 'idiots' having fun with an AGC" And its not the first time I've heard ya say this. Considering the amount of time and skill it took to get the AGC running again, I bet its nice to know you deserve to have a little fun from all that effort. And, to find its all working as it should. You could just call it 'testing'. Congrats!

@patrickradcliffe3837 5 жыл бұрын

Now just need a CGI of the LEM.

@Spookieham 5 жыл бұрын

A great milestone Marc - you and everyone else should be very proud of your achievements.

@randalltufts3321 5 жыл бұрын

And in the words of walter, "Man on the moon" " That's the way it is" 50 years ago I heard those words with my own ears. Thanks for the ride along guys. The 🦅 eagle has landed ,again. Good luck picking a computer out of the bin 50 years from now made today that can be brought back to life lol Excellent job gentlemen 👍 Thanks to all involved

@pl2247 5 жыл бұрын

In the middle of landing: "Houston error code 1202"

@physicsguybrian 5 жыл бұрын

And to this day there are still idiots who think it never happened! This is what results when human compassion derails Darwinian attrition.

@AlphaRaptor2k6 5 жыл бұрын

Something(Computers) built today in 50 years? Heck, its difficult trying to get a computer built in the 80's/90's to work with leaking Capacitors/CMOS batteries destroying boards/traces, UV damage to cases, and stupid/cheap-ass architecture rotting away. You'll have to have machines in vacuum chambers, decapped, and have a lot of prayers to some patron saint/deity of computer hardware that it will power up in the distant future. Many NEW computers are DOA fresh from the factory. This tech was made to be as reliable as possible, because people's lives depended on it to bring them home safe and sound. Given the state of Semiconductor's and the time-frame given to complete it, its a wonder it was done at all.

@Bobbias 5 жыл бұрын

This was hilarious. It's so awesome to see the AGC finally complete and working. You guys have done an incredible job, and I wish i could have been there.

@lawrencebarras1655 5 жыл бұрын

Absolutely fantastic journey, ladies and gentlemen. Congratulations!

@christopher88719 5 жыл бұрын

I love this channel and group of guys. They humble me with how smart they are. I wish I had friends like this because I am sure they would always challenge me to grow and learn more.

@kyleb209 5 жыл бұрын

Great flight guys. I’ve really enjoyed the whole restoration but that was a lot of fun to watch. Thank you for posting this video for us all to enjoy.

@timgood4003 5 жыл бұрын

That was the best video yet! We finally see the numbers as they would have been in the real lander, well almost! GREAT JOB FOLKS!

@BlackEpyon 5 жыл бұрын

Other than the "travelling below the surface of the moon" bit, lol

@GameTechRefuge 5 жыл бұрын

Great to see you guys having fun with the AGC. Well done on the project, awesome job.

@kneecaps2000 5 жыл бұрын

Fantastic work. It's great to see the timings of the real AGC. The way the display updates and the long long delays of blank registers with the solid ACTY light.. the astronauts true historical experience :)

@robpuchyr7407 3 жыл бұрын

Awesome! Imagine playing Lunar Lander on a real Apollo guidance computer! That’s epic

@robh8582 5 жыл бұрын

Seriously, best tech series I've ever watched. I played Orbiter NASSP for ~10 years simulating almost all the Apollo missions. Played with vAGC as well. But nothing comes close to watching you guys resurrect this amazing machine from the 60's. Monumental engineering effort, you all deserve to be on the level as those who designed all of this hardware.

@markpengelly3890 3 жыл бұрын

Totally awesome, I have loved this series! Thanks for sharing your fun with us geeks!

@rogerwhittle2078 5 жыл бұрын

A magnificent effort guys, thank you. I used to be an MRI scanner engineer before I retired and before that I worked on the earliest CT scanners in the world. I saw an awful lot of very early computer technology and it is amazing to see just how good the AGC and its associated input/output devices actually were. The common description of the AGC almost dismisses it as "having less computing power than your mobile phone", but that is disingenuous. The AGC was even more powerful than was strictly necessary and was very much more flexible than the 'default description'. Once again, thank you all for your perseverance, attention to detail and sheer determination, so that we could watch - fascinated and rapt - a few 'blinkenlights' recreating history.

@chriholt 5 жыл бұрын

I kept hearing audio from the actual landing in my head while you guys were doing that! Congratulations!

@kevincozens6837 5 жыл бұрын

In the 70's the computer program was called Lunar Lander. I remember playing that game. I didn't do very well and usually crashed. IIRC, I have a book of games in BASIC that includes Lunar Lander. BTW, I noticed the recreation of the DSKY had a blinking light in the top left corner at times but there was no matching blinking light on the EL DSKY.

@Chriva 5 жыл бұрын

"We're landing on our side" -"Bwahahaha". Gotta love that silly humor lol

@RocknR00ster 5 жыл бұрын

Absolutely amazing, great work!

@SuzuranMajere 5 жыл бұрын

Just did this a few nights ago in test. Nice to be able to follow from *recent* memory for once.

@jeffwads6158 5 жыл бұрын

This was amazing. Great job all around.

@darrinpearce9780 5 жыл бұрын

Great work guys

@paulfreeman4900 5 жыл бұрын

Houston, the Eagle has crashed! No, seriously guys, I've been following your efforts and this is wonderful

@BlackEpyon 5 жыл бұрын

Should have called it the "albatross."

@whatchacookin1096 5 жыл бұрын

Great finish. First manned mission to the moon in this century.

@michaelriley1118 5 жыл бұрын

Your landing attempt reminds me of my first landing attempt on the Mun in Kerbal Space Program. Thanks for all the fun.

@mitfreundlichengrussen1234 5 жыл бұрын

What a trip - now lets fly back...

@mitfreundlichengrussen1234 5 жыл бұрын

@@mazzalnx Thx for the call - a TST is definitely a thing to carry and to use - at home as well as in space as we can see now.

@winstonsmith478 5 жыл бұрын

I know you guys were rushed due to the anniversary, but are there any future plans to create the hardware to automatically simulate external sensor inputs to the AGC? Being able to use a Thrust/Translational Hand Controller would be very cool.

@JonathanStray 5 жыл бұрын

Best series on KZfaq.

@Chrizzletrizz 5 жыл бұрын

You guys rock! Thanks for sharing :-D Happy landings

@pmcgee003 5 жыл бұрын

Outstanding gentleman.

@markgreco1962 5 жыл бұрын

Very nice work

@alphabeets 5 жыл бұрын

You guys have the all time coolest toys ever in the whole world.

@nicksherron9603 Жыл бұрын

Would love to hang out with these guys. I have great admiration for them after watching this series

@Alexlfm 5 жыл бұрын

So basically this was a test of what would of happened had the astronauts gotten their way originally and disconnected the computer from the engines the minute they got up there and tried to land manually... That sounds better then three grown men playing with a million dollar toy. Seriously though after all that hard work you guys put into that machine, you’ve more then earned it.

@mrbroeders 4 жыл бұрын

You techy boys amaze me...well done

@KJ7BZC 5 жыл бұрын

"We're already knocked over, we're landing on our side" I love it!

@KD5NJR 5 жыл бұрын

Awesome guys !

@gcewing 5 жыл бұрын

16:27 One small skid for man...

@Stoney3K 5 жыл бұрын

Brakes. Brakes. BRAKES!

@ErinJayEldridge 5 жыл бұрын

Congratulations! Really cool!

@Lanacaja 5 жыл бұрын

Nikola: I watched the entire series and dare i say, it's incredibly amazing! Almost everyone on earth after 1969 dreamed of going to the moon, i'd like to thank you guys with Albert Einstein levels of intelligence for successfully reviving this excellent computer! It's a very clear sign that 3/4th of the earth will actually be going to the moon sooner than later! Once again thank you so much!

@maicod 5 жыл бұрын

Mike it sounds like you were the lead designer in the 60s. You have studied it SO thorough !

@rallokkcaz 5 жыл бұрын

I've never seen anything this cool ever.

@Lazarus7000 5 жыл бұрын

The blown diode will be a ruse; they need some more time to get Doom running on it!

@nathanrcoe1132 5 жыл бұрын

but can it run crysis

@TheRealColBosch 5 жыл бұрын

26.6 f/s is 18 mph (~30 kmh). Ouch indeed. Marc, you're fired from simulated engine duties. :D

@Stoney3K 5 жыл бұрын

"Lunar landing? Crap, we're gonna need a runway for the next attempt."

@HeikoRehm 5 жыл бұрын

You can always go around by Instructor used to say :)

@ReneSchickbauer 5 жыл бұрын

I have a feeling most real Apollo astronauts crashed way harder on their first time in the simulator...

@nagualdesign 5 жыл бұрын

Great stuff.

@VioletRene 5 жыл бұрын

I wish y'all could keep the AGC for a little longer. I love your work! Fascinating!!

@mariodistefano2973 5 жыл бұрын

*FANTASTIC* job guys! Congratulations! It would be intersting also to SIMULATE the infamous 1202 error on the DSKY display...

@tanmaywho 5 жыл бұрын

Man really enjoyed it.

@longshot789 5 жыл бұрын

That is just too cool

@ericschmitt5390 5 жыл бұрын

Congratulations people! All you are missing is JSC cigar smoke!

@daneberhardt2718 5 жыл бұрын

See how Scott Manley does at the flight controls :D

@tabajaralabs 5 жыл бұрын

That is incredible! =D

@VijayKumar-dn4pz 5 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

@jetraid 5 жыл бұрын

"The eagle has landed" maybe could get Buzz to give a try

@SergiuszRoszczyk 5 жыл бұрын

Awesome! 😍

@jaymercy224 5 жыл бұрын

Did I see right? That monster computer took only 1 ampere current during landing (28 watts!). Anyway GREAT JOB! Maybe if X-Y-axis controlled in joystick, it would be easy handling than 3 independent potentiometer.

@ReneSchickbauer 5 жыл бұрын

Well, that thing had to runs for days on battery power. So of course Ratheon had to optimize power consumption to the bare minimum. Batteries are heavy things and Apollo was overweight to begin with, so the extra effort was worth it.

@CheckEmGG 5 жыл бұрын

NASA: "we can't go back to the moon because we lost the technology to do so" CuriousMarc: "Hold my beer"

@BlackEpyon 5 жыл бұрын

Personally, I've never believed that, and the only reason I can think of as to why people keep parroting that ridiculous notion is that they've never looked at a schematic and been able to piece together what they're looking at.

@veliki_dlek 2 жыл бұрын

Does NASA really use that excuse? Computers today are a million times more powerful than anything the Apollo program used, and rocketry only improved too.

@paavotorkkola523 5 жыл бұрын

maybe this can be post 50yr sequels ...but all the same you amazing archeologists preservers of our treasurer .. post renaissance

@CEDrsgaming 5 жыл бұрын

Now interface them with KSP ;) I see someone do it with a virtual version of the AGC ;)

@dr.strangelove5622 5 жыл бұрын

This is so cool!! Even I, a viewer, have a sense of achievement!!

@larsbr4519 5 жыл бұрын

Awesome! :-)

@Miata822 5 жыл бұрын

Just Wow!

@525Lines 5 жыл бұрын

I need to see the virtual lander on a computer screen to understand what's going on.

@525Lines 5 жыл бұрын

The ultimate Microsoft Flight Simulator.

@littlejason99 5 жыл бұрын

They need to somehow get it to work with the old Lunar Lander game! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_Lander_(1979_video_game)

@apx5777 5 жыл бұрын

This is better than awesome!

@gennakbzh 5 жыл бұрын

Please ask a real apollo astronaut to test it !! would be soo cool !

@BlackEpyon 5 жыл бұрын

What are these, inverted controls!? GAH!

@SternLX 5 жыл бұрын

Ya sure, lemme ring up Buzz. He's still hanging out around here somewhere. :)

@littlejason99 5 жыл бұрын

Houston, Tranquility base here. The Eagle has landed.... on our side. LOL

@BlackEpyon 5 жыл бұрын

Like an albatross, lol

@SuperAWaC 5 жыл бұрын

hey you did the thing (close enough) good job

@NWRefund 5 жыл бұрын

If you could make this interface with Kerbal Space Program, you would be legends.

@mimsnshine 3 жыл бұрын

Love!

@ilsopravvissuto6860 4 жыл бұрын

This is magic

@pixelflow 5 жыл бұрын

You guys really need to get with Franlab to fabricate a definitive DSK to go along side this marvelous restoration!

$@frac$

@frac 5 жыл бұрын

Oh, PLEASE make her build it out of wood! (See her latest Project Egress vid!)

@theplanetpete8592 5 жыл бұрын

What kind if trig functions does the AGC provide and how are they implemented?

@rot_studios 5 жыл бұрын

The tension in the room is palpable haha

@Dust599 5 жыл бұрын

You need to make an astronaut simulator. Fly to the moon and back real time on repeat as a demo. Perfect run every time.

@tachelesreden 5 жыл бұрын

You guys are great! But i have to say... I think you could have put Mike in any Apollo Mission and he would be able to fullfill the task of the pilot of the command module straight the way ;-)