I spent an interesting morning at MIT on May 16 with George Cherry, Dan Lickly, Norm Sears, and Craig Schulenberg talking about Luminary how it works and some things that really haven’t been defined yet. It primarily dealt with lunar descent and aborts from lunar descent….
Category: Apollo 14
Let’s hear it for “Delta Guidance”!
As part of the Apollo software team’s contribution in the search for extra LM hover time and/or payload capability, they are vigorously working on the development of a new descent guidance and throttle control technique. The pay off could be impressive compared to things like trying to decrease LM weight. Specifically, a ΔV improvement on…
Apollo Spacecraft Software Configuration Control Board meeting number 32
On October 9 Chris Kraft convened the first Software Configuration Board meeting since June 5 at MIT. We had a real pot full of PCR’s to discuss, some of which were approved for Apollo 13, some for 14, and some were put in a category in which MIT was to continue development to a point…
Software for the AAP CSM spacecraft computer
The time appeared right to try to find out exactly what the program requirements are for the CSM computer for AAP and we had meetings on January 28 and 30 to do that. As a result of these meetings, a number of PCR’s will be prepared and submitted to the Apollo Spacecraft Software Configuration Control…
LM IMU drift checks prior to descent for Apollo 13 and up
We are making some fairly substantial changes to the way we are aligning and checking the drift of the LM IMU before descent on the Apollo 13 mission. Just for the record I would like to document what it is we are doing and why….
How to land next to a Surveyor – a short novel for do-it-yourselfers
As you know a decision has been made for the H mission to land next to Surveyor III. Considerable amount of work has already been spent in figuring out how to perform a so-called point landing, but a number of computer program and procedure changes are required which cannot be implemented prior to this mission….
The Apollo rendezvous can be shortened by 2 hours
As you no doubt are aware, there is a movement afoot to shorten the Apollo rendezvous by 2 hours. This would be done by eliminating the CSI and CDH maneuvers and executing TPI about ½ hour after insertion. I thought the reason this was being considered was to reduce the crew’s workday, which has been…
Can we cut 2 hours out of the Apollo rendezvous?
As you are no doubt aware, there is a movement afoot to shorten the Apollo rendezvous by 2 hours. This would be done by eliminating the CSI and CDH maneuvers and executing TPI about ½ hour after insertion. The reason this is being considered is to reduce the crew’s workday which currently is really pretty…