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Post by papageno on Jun 5, 2009 6:55:11 GMT -4
An Italian blog came up with a question about the design process of the Saturn V. Was the computer Olivetti ELEA 9003 employed during the design of the rocket? |
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Post by gwiz on Jun 5, 2009 9:57:32 GMT -4
Was the computer Olivetti ELEA 9003 employed during the design of the rocket? I've no idea. Perhaps you could try asking at the NASASpaceflight forum, as they have a lot of NASA people posting there. |
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Post by papageno on Jul 8, 2009 10:36:15 GMT -4
Sorry for the late reply.
Thank you for the tip.
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Post by Apollo Gnomon on Jul 8, 2009 19:14:14 GMT -4
Did a bit of searching on the topic. Found this: In 1965, the Programma 101 was launched first in the US, which was considered as the most advanced and innovation-receptive market. Moreover, the choice of the US market was due to the effort to protect the new model from the widespread scepticism characterizing the Italian headquarters (Piol, 2004: 66). It was met with instant demand, especially in scientific contexts. NASA, for instance, was among the first clients, and used it to make computations for the moon landing (Notizie Olivetti, May 1969) portale.unibocconi.it/wps/allegatiCTP/Verona_100609_1.pdfThe Programma 101 was Olivetti's desktop electronic calculator. The reference doc is interesting reading, in a geeky way. Anyway, given the presence in Olivetti products in the US at the time, and Olivetti's later sale of their electronics division to GE, it seems possible (but still unproven) that the 9003 was used in the design. HOWEVER! Let's remember that "old school" engineers in any field often resist new methods. The SR-71 was designed with slide rules and drawn on paper. |
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