On: Talking with the Moon: Inside Apollo's premodulation processor

[the__alchemist]

This is really cool! I wonder if nowadays those collections of passives would be replaced not with a PCB, but with a single IC.

[zw123456 → the__alchemist]

The amazing thing is now days an entire WIFI AP, RF section and all is on a single chip. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESP32

I was 14 when Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon, it was one of the inspirations for me to become and engineer, and no doubt had that effect on generations.

I love seeing this old Apollo gear. I know the Apollo AGC has been posted here a million times but this RF stuff was really cool to get a look at!

[xattt → zw123456]

How rad-hardened would this single-chip solution be compared to something made with discreet components?

[kens → the__alchemist]

Yes, I expect you could put the whole premodulation processor on a single IC nowadays. Even in the late 1960s, an op amp IC could have replaced the amplifiers built from discrete components.

[JKCalhoun → the__alchemist]

I was wondering that as well: what a drop-in replacement would look like from 2022. I would like to think it would be the size of an Altoid tin.