论文标题
对阿波罗指导计算机的简要分析
A Brief Analysis of the Apollo Guidance Computer
论文作者
论文摘要
AGC的设计目的是在整个1960年代和1970年代初期的阿波罗计划期间提供导航指导和航天器控制。 AGC具有72kb的ROM，4KB的RAM和高达14,245的拖鞋，比本报告所写的计算机少了约3000万倍。这些局限性使AGC如此有趣，因为由于当时的大部分记忆技术，其程序员必须对每个单独的记忆单词进行评估。尽管存在这些限制（或者也许是由于它们），但AGC还是高度优化的，可以说是当时最先进的计算机，因为它的计算能力仅在1970年代后期与Apple II这样的计算机匹配。可以肯定地说，AGC没有预期的市场，并且经过明确设计，以增强对Apollo命令模块和Apollo Lunar模块的控制。但是，AGC并不完全是NASA的内部，并且是在MIT的仪器实验室设计的，并由武器和国防承包商雷神公司制造。
The AGC was designed with the sole purpose of providing navigational guidance and spacecraft control during the Apollo program throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. The AGC sported 72kb of ROM, 4kb of RAM, and a whopping 14,245 FLOPS, roughly 30 million times fewer than the computer this report is being written on. These limitations are what make the AGC so interesting, as its programmers had to ration each individual word of memory due to the bulk of memory technology of the time. Despite these limitations (or perhaps due to them), the AGC was highly optimized, and arguably the most advanced computer of its time, as its computational power was only matched in the late 1970s by computers like the Apple II. It is safe to say that the AGC had no intended market, and was explicitly designed to enhance control of the Apollo Command Module and Apollo Lunar Module. The AGC was not entirely internal to NASA, however, and was designed in MIT's Instrumentation Laboratory, and manufactured by Raytheon, a weapons and defense contractor.
