Aside from the spare in the LM, they had a backup computer called the abort guidance system developed by TRW. I think it was bolted up under a seat somewhere.
-Bob On Wed, Nov 18, 2009 at 4:01 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Alan, > > I am reading a book about the Apollo computer, they bet their life on it > not failing (everything related to spacecraft maneuvering went through the > computer, there were no mechanical or other backups whatsoever). They only > had a single computer per spacecraft! > > The book states that based on the entire Apollo program, they later > estimated the units MTBF to be in excess of 50,000 hours (which is actually > not a > lot compared to what typical GPSDO's can achieve today). > > A single transistor, ROM bit, solder-joint, or resistor failure could have > killed them. > > Scary considering they went for 2 week+ missions.. > > bye, > Said > > > > > In a message dated 11/18/2009 14:38:57 Pacific Standard Time, > [email protected] writes: > > Sorry Mike , unless, as someone else said, the figures are derived from > field failures over at least a good porton of the expected like the MTBF > tells you absolutely nothing!! The statistics used on the usual 1000hour > test will only tell you the probability of failure in the first 1000hours > of > use!! It cannot tell you anything mathematically about the extrapolated > life....this has become another urban myth. If it works it is more by luck > that by mathematical probability. > > Alan G3NYK > > > _______________________________________________ > time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe, go to > https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts > and follow the instructions there. > _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
