“Gemini Analog Reentry Simulation”, explaining how the simulator works, as well as how the Gemini re-entry profile was flown (yes, flown). Part of what makes this interesting (to me) is that it also shows some analog computers from the time (specifically, the Pace 231R, if that means anything to any of my readers).
And as a bonus, another bit of Gemini history: “Flight Controller Orientation”, a brief explanation of the workings of the flight control system.
And to complete the trilogy, a contemporary NASA documentary about Gemini 8. You may remember Gemini 8 as the one that rolled out of control during docking with Agena (due to a stuck thruster).
I feel like this is going to turn some folk’s crank: a large R/C Airwolf in flight. With rocket fire a little past the 2:00 mark.
I have mixed feelings about some of these R/C aircraft videos. On the one hand, I admire the people who can build and fly these massive detailed objects. On the other hand, I keep thinking about the massive amounts of time, effort, and money that could be wiped out in seconds by one hardware failure or human error.
The “Leadership Secrets…” series is still active: I just haven’t found a lot of examples to post recently. But these two videos popped up in my feed. One short, but watch to the end for the point:
(This same point was quoted directly in a Twitter thread I linked to a while back. Thankfully, that’s still up.)
One longer:
It isn’t like Lawrence and I don’t have enough stuff already, but I’m giving some thought to “Band of Brothers”.
I’ve said before that I consider space stuff to be science. And computer history is science. So how about we cross the streams with another area that I find fascinating?
From the MIT Science Reporter circa 1965, “Computer For Apollo”, about the Apollo Guidance Computer.
I know I’ve mentioned him many times before, but Ken Shirriff has written a lot about the Apollo computers. There’s also this (affiliate link) which is even available in a handy Kindle edition (though it isn’t much of a savings over the physical book). May have to order that next time I get some funny money to play with…
Bonus video: also by way of the MIT Science Reporter, this time around 1961. We were riffing on Insane Clown Posse at one of the recent SDCs, and this may be more clearly science than the AGC.
I thought I’d take a break from nuclear war and the military and share a couple of mildly geeky videos.
First up: “Man and Computer: A Perspective”. This comes from IBM’s United Kingdom branch and dates to 1965.
Bonus video: I feel like I have to apologize for this one, but I’m posting it because I think certain people will get a kick out of it. It isn’t in English, and there are no subtitles. I’m not even sure what the title is. This is apparently from some point in the 1980s, and shows computing…in the Soviet Union. Including some shots of the Soviet version of the IBM PC.
Back in the day (approximately 1952-1964) gleeful eccentrics walked the Earth. And I mean that in the best possible way: I would have enjoyed having a few beers with these guys if I had been around back then.
Some of them were interested in earth science. So they formed a group called the American Miscellaneous Society (AMSOC, because I’m not going to keep writing that out).
AMSOC’s biggest and most famous venture was Project Mohole.
Now, when you were a kid, you probably wanted to dig a hole to China. Or at least thought about it. Project Mohole was kind of that on a larger scale. Specifically, AMSOC’s idea with Mohole was to drill a hole through the earth’s crust and into the mantle to bring back samples.
Not that kind of samples. They were especially interested in the Mohorovičić discontinuity, the boundary between crust and mantle. (Hence the project name.)
But there was a problem. No, they were not looking for audiophiles who needed high quality cassette tapes. The problem was that the earth’s crust is really thick on dry land, and you have to drill down a long way to reach the mantle.
But! If you drill at sea, the crust is a lot thinner there, and you don’t have to drill as deep a hole!
But! This was the late 1950s – early 1960s. Drilling technology, especially deep sea drilling technology, wasn’t as advanced back then.
But! This was the late 1950s – early 1960s. Sputnik! Space race! We can do anything!
And so, with funding from the National Science Foundation, Project Mohole began in 1961.
Phase 1 was kind of cool: they used a drillship called CUSS 1, and developed “dynamic positioning”. That allowed the ship to hold a position within a radius of 600 feet, which, in turn, allowed them to drill in deep water. Their deepest hole went down to 601 feet under the sea floor, in a depth of 11,700 feet.
Unfortunately, stuff happened. AMSOC really wasn’t set up to manage big projects like this, so they turned the management over to the NSF. The various institutions involved didn’t completely see eye to eye on the project goals, and there was some infighting over where to drill the next hole, and whether to drill shallow holes first or go for the gusto and try to hit the Moho.
The NSF took bids on who the primary project contractor would be, and they ended up selecting Brown and Root. Now, I have a sentimental attachment to Brown and Root (my dad worked for them) but it seems like they were not the best choice to run the project. B&R apparently wasn’t highly skilled in sea drilling. Costs went up and up and up.
Then Congress got involved. Technically, Congress was already involved: one of the big supporters of Project Moho was Albert Thomas, a congressman from Houston. (Thomas was also key in getting NASA to locate the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston. His involvement may explain why B&R was chosen as the primary contractor. The fact that B&R was also a big donor to Lyndon Johnson might have something to do with it as well.) Thomas died in February of 1966, and the project was cancelled later that year.
And somewhere, I have a copy of Willard Bascom’s A Hole in the Bottom of the Sea.
Short bonus video: this claims to be footage of a nuclear weapon being used to put out a massive gas well fire in the Soviet Union.
I’ve had this in my queue for a while because I’m not sure if it is real or fake. If it is fake, it is well done, and certainly suckered me in. I guess this is one of those “I report, you decide” moments.
Time for some more military geekery. And I think that’s appropriate in this case, because this covers two interesting areas of research.
“Holloman — Frontier of the Future”, a documentary about Holloman AFB in New Mexico and some of the work going on there at the time. In addition to missile testing and flight operations, Holloman has a long (35,000 feet at the time: it was upgraded to 50,917 feet in 2000) rocket sled track: this is where John Paul Stapp did his work, and he’s interviewed briefly in the film.
Holloman was also the home base for Project Manhigh (though the balloons were launched from other sites).
Bonus video: and now for something completely different (and longer). I have not watched this yet, but I’m bookmarking it here for reasons I’ll go into in a moment.
This was part of Project Plowshare, the government’s attempt to use nuclear weapons for “peaceful purposes”: digging harbors, building canals, and other massive excavation
Bonus video #1: here’s another point of view on Gasbuggy, which contains more actual test footage.
Bonus video #2: “A Force to Move the Earth”, a documentary from the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory focusing on the work of mechanical engineers. There’s also some interesting footage of LRL’s early computer time-sharing system.
Henry Martin, one of the old time New Yorker cartoonists. The NYT obit features a few examples of his work, and I have to admit: they did provoke a chuckle or three.
Bonus video: “The Secret Land: Operation High Jump”. This is technically a military video, but since it deals with Antarctic exploration, I feel like it also qualifies for Science Sunday.
The theme for today is: “Things That I Found Oddly Compelling”.
Techmoan fixes an old dual cassette deck. But it’s not just any cassette deck: it was taken off a decommissioned British warship. And this one isn’t designed for disco parties: this is a highly specialized cassette deck designed for the aftermath of disco parties, when someone is interrogating you about how that dead body ended up in your bed surrounded by enough cocaine to fuel a sequel to “Popeye”.
Bonus video: by way of the Northwest New Jersey Beekeepers Association, a beekeeper shows how he investigates a very aggressive hive, makes the decision to destroy it, and then carries out that decision.
I don’t much like any insect that is capable of stinging me, including bees (though I acknowledge the need for bees, which is more than I’m willing to say about wasps, yellow jackets, or hornets – murder or otherwise). But when this guy – someone who knows about bees – says “This is an aggressive and dangerous hive” and “I can’t just take it out into a field somewhere and leave it”, and then backs that up with video of hot bee action…well.
I’m drawing pretty heavily on AT&T/Bell System stuff, but they do have some of the best science videos on YouTube. Not just about phone stuff, either.
For example, lasers.
From 1969, “Lasers Unlimited”. If you want to skip the introduction, fast forward to about 2:25.
Bonus video #1, since that one was short: a 1978 interview with Robert Wilson and Arno Penzias, right after their Nobel Prize was announced.
If you don’t know the story, Penzias and Wilson were Bell Labs employees working on microwave receivers, specifically ultra-sensitive and cryogenically cooled ones. Since they were trying to pick up really really weak signals (bounced off Echo balloons), they eliminated all the noise they could from their equipment. But there was still some noise that persisted and that they couldn’t find a source for. Finally, and with the help of some astronomers, they figured out that what they were hearing was the cosmic microwave background radiation, which is taken to be evidence in favor of the Big Bang theory. Penzias and Wilson won the Nobel Prize in Physics for this discovery. (It was shared with Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa, who was awarded the prize for unrelated work on low-temperature physics.)
I know it’s talking heads, but I think the Penzias and Wilson story is a great one. You go chasing faint radio signals, you come back with one of the keys to the universe. How cool is that?
(Apparently, their receiver was quite cool. Thank you, I’ll be here all week. Try the veal and remember to tip your waitress.)
Bonus video #2: This one is equally short, and silent: “A Computer Technique For the Production of Animated Movies”. This is how computer animation was done…in 1964.
I’m fascinated by computer chess, so I would probably have posted this anyway. Interestingly, though, this article also features (and quotes) an unexpected appearance by a now very prominent science fiction and fantasy writer, who at the time had recently graduated from Northwestern University and was interested in both computers and chess.
I thought I’d go back to the early days, starting with the 1950s.
From 1953, and the Bell System, “The Transistor”, an early documentary about the transistor and its anticipated impact on society. (Remember, this was six years after the transistor was invented.)
Wrist radios! Portable televisions! Computers that can fit into “a good sized room”! The future!
Bonus video #1: “Genesis of the Transistor”. Also from the Bell System, but from 1965 this time: the origins and development of the device.
Bonus video #2: “The Incredible Machine”. Electronic circuit design, digital drawing with a pen, computer animation, computer music composition, speech synthesis…none of this stuff is extraordinary today. But it was in 1968.
