apollo 11 tracking stations

Did Garth Brooks get hair plugs for Joe Biden’s inauguration? The command computer received commands from Houston to uplink to the spacecraft and the telemetry computer received data from the spacecraft and shipped it back to mission control. Transmitter 1 was still operational at the time. Each command word was followed by a further thirty binary bits representing a unique polynomial error protection (PEP) code, calculated specifically for each of the command words. Paper tape handling included five, seven and eight level formats. to track 11 all the way to the surface. The pseudo random noise range code, generated by a dedicated ranging system, was a combination of digital pulse codes phase modulated onto the S-band uplink carrier. The 100 or so Americans stationed on the island, working for NASA and some other corporations, were all men. Detail from this photo. The raw telemetry data, both wide band and narrow band, was recorded by reel-to-reel magnetic tape units. As the countdown progressed, operations procedures manuals required updating frequently and as fast as possible. The latter was more preferable, of course, being without any hard connection. The CM and LM spacecraft telemetry PCM bit streams from the demodulators in the USB area were processed by the four decommutators (DECOM) in the Telemetry Area. At the far right is the temporary TV relay tower erected for Apollo 11 TV. Next was the main memory controller above the four memory chassis containing the magnetic core stacks. All numbers are in binary coded octal (0 thru 7) notation format. Changes to the operations procedures arrived via teletype (TTY), usually over-night (being daylight in the U.S.). Three manually switched Data Transmission Units (DTU) converted parallel digital data into serial bit streams and visa versa. John Saxon and Ian Grant are seated at the Ops Console. It was the responsibility of the engineer or technician to look up the very thick FSN reference listings at the ‘service’ counter. The charlie loop was an alternate to the alpha loop and usually coordinated operational matters pertaining to telemetry and computer data. For the later Apollo missions the astronauts used a Lunar Rover Vehicle (LRV) to explore over greater distances from the LM. An external Expansion Memory Unit (EMU) provided an additional 32k words for each computer. Longitude. Photo: Ian Hahn. Directly behind the operators was a small sliding glass window into the communications centre. cable to connect with each peripheral device. The CP4 system also provided a backup to CP3 as well as a means of locally generating spacecraft command data for use in both mission simulation/exercises as well as a means of testing the integrated CMD system data flow. High speed data modems of the time (4.8 kBPS) were heavy rack mounted units about the size and weight of a full filing cabinet drawer. All meals were home made by Betty, whose baked dinners had all the trimmings from mint to cranberry sauce and gravies, just like grandma used to make. to access the computers are down the centre. Directly behind the antenna dish was a room containing the transmitters (PA’s), and the cryogenically cooled parametric amplifiers (PARAMPS). The S-Band downlinks supported a variety of signal combinations including: 1. astronaut voice primary, backup and emergency (morse) key. As Apollo missions progressed the complexity of downlink subcarrier signals processing increased dramatically. Consequently, only those working at the three tracking stations-Goldstone, Honeysuckle Creek, and Parkes-saw the feed as it came directly from the moon and was played on their slow-scan television monitors. 130,689, © 2021 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved From Tom Reid’s album. NASA needed tracking stations — 14 in total, dotted around the planet — to keep in contact. Seven diesel alternators (generators) supplied more than enough electric power for the whole station. Scan: Colin Mackellar. Prior to supporting tracking operations all Apollo stations performed a three hour station readiness test (SRT). The two operational software applications (CMD and TLM) were interchangeable between computers with a minimum of cable reconfiguration. During normal mission support, a situation could have existed where there might have been several core images (faults) already dumped to the tape. Line Printer left foreground, Punch Card Reader center left, Line Printer left rear, eight Magnetic Tape Units at rear with four Disc Drive Units in front, two Operators Consoles in the centre. I was the only one there. (Older colour photo here.). In today’s PCs and LAPTOPS many thousands of these little PCBs are incorporated into a single thumb-nail size silicon chip. Such messages were referred to as ‘predicts’. Photo: Hamish Lindsay. The impossible had happened. Many of the married men were there for the express purpose of saving for a down payment on a house. 2018 negative scan: Colin Mackellar. Ground Tracking of Apollo By FRIEDRICH 0.VONBUN NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Ground, sea, and airborne stations strategically located around the world-the Manned Space Flight Network-will keep “track”of Apollo during the first flight to the Moon Immediately after liftoff of the 300-ton Saturn vehicle, a vast global complex of tracking and Using pre-recorded test tapes the station’s data flow paths of tracking, ranging, telemetry and command were thoroughly exercised and compared with known or predefined data values. Scan: Colin Mackellar. Apollo 11 finally got underway at 9:32 a.m. EDT on July 16, 1969. Keith Hiscock (foreground) and Fred Hill at the low speed testing rack in the Comms Centre. This permitted only selected data formats to be transmitted to the MCC in accordance with the predefined requirements of the mission flight plan. There was no sense of urgency. (Story.). Complete realism was never fully achieved without the true American accents. All the operations activities of the station mission support, interface and readiness testing revolved around time. It held 3400 printed circuit cards on thirteen horizontally mounted chassis. The major sections were –. Scan and audio clip: Colin Mackellar. Accurate time keeping was essential for precision tracking, and various methods were used to keep the station time within ±10 microseconds of Universal Time (UT). From Tom Reid’s album, with thanks to John Saxon. He obtained this copy while on a training course at Gendale, California, in January 1969. Hands-on activtiies and discovery stations; Lunar story time at 11:00 and 11:30 am "Driven to Explore" NASA mobile exhibit from 12:00 to 5:30 pm; While you’re here, check out artifacts from the Apollo 11 mission, like the Mobile Quarantine Facility and Apollo 11 flotation collar. These all needed to be labelled, packed and shipped to Goddard. For the first round of Apollo flights, the network was a large one, with 14 primary stations (11 of which were equipped with 9-meter USB antennas), 5 ships, 5 aircraft, 4 secondary stations, and 9 DoD support stations. The simulated S-Band signal from the Sim. During mission support times the Technical Support Section were responsible for the daily collection of all of the magnetic tapes, high speed printout, paper chart rolls and console TTY printouts. Photo: Hamish Lindsay. https://www.space.com/how-nasa-tracked-apollo-11-communications.html A standard memory diagnostic software program, called ‘BRAINWASH’, was very versatile in writing and reading back various combinations of binary ‘ones’ and ‘zeros’ in fixed or random patterns while progressively relocating itself to operate and test all of the total computer memory compliment. preserved by Mike Dinn, scan by Colin Mackellar. Dean Gilkes (left) and Terry Hearn in the Test Equipment Section. The canteen, as it was known, served many other functions besides being a cafeteria, tea room and crew room. The computer room with John Saxon in the foreground and Geoff Ruck behind. Air conditioning was an essential requirement for the large array of electronic equipment in the operations areas. The communications centre was like a large office containing an array of teletype (TTY) machines (ASR model 35s) and several tall racks of technical equipment including line testing gear, jack fields and high speed modems. Spacecraft commands could also be manually generated and sent using a special Computer Access Matrix (CAM) keyboard located on the Station Operations Console. Tidbinbilla (Australian Capital Territory) tracking station was developed for communicating with deep space probes and to add support to the early crewed missions. The television signals were recorded on Ampex VR 660 and VR 1100 video recorders. Photo: Hamish Lindsay. Rex Jones (seated) and Eric Stallard in an early view of the Telemetry section. A set of six special jump and stop keys allowed the operator to control pre-programed portions or functions of the operational/application software. When the spacecraft received and accepted the command data, it included a Message Acceptance Parameter (MAP) within the telemetry down-link data which the TLM computer also inserted into the telemetry data stream being sent to the MCC. Operational documentation updating became a large part of the TSS work activity especially during Apollo missions. As Apollo 11 sped to the moon, the Earth turned behind it, and Mission Control in Houston would lose the ability to communicate directly with the spacecraft. The Transport Officer had to contend with sudden changes due to a late car arrival, a report of a vehicle problem, a vehicle accident, a procrastinating engineer authorizing last minute overtime, all without having a nervous breakdown. The window from the Ops Console to the Comms Centre is seen in this footage of, referring to Battle Shorts across the MSFN. One path was used for the CM spacecraft when the biomed data came in the PCM telemetry stream. From Tom Reid’s album, with thanks to John Saxon. Station Director Tom Reid, Astronaut 14 track voice recorder, showing the tapes. Martin Geasley (left) in the Comms Room passes a message through the window to the Ops Console. Later they were upgraded to 64K. Alternatively the command data could be keyed into the CMD computer manually from the OPS2 position on the station operations console via the CAM keyboard. Published: July 13, 2009 -- … With the main tracking antenna pointed at the coll tower a comprehensive test of all the USB equipment and functions could be performed. © 2021 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Biden put on a show of 'unity' — will he stick to it? The simulation system also provided a quick antenna tracking and data flow check prior to station acquisition of signal (AOS) of the spacecraft tracking period. His word is law. The XY mount allowed the antenna to track fast moving spacecraft smoothly over the antenna’s zenith. Being true ‘binary bit’, parallel, solid state, general purpose processors they were ideally suited to military and aerospace applications used in real-time 3 tactical tracking, command, control and simulation systems. If a PEP comparison error was encountered due to a NASCOM line drop-out or a noise glitch the whole of the MCC transmission sequence (command word plus each corresponding PEP code) would be ignored. During the course of the Apollo 11 mission, several stations were required in order to receive telemetry and television signal from the spacecraft and the moon. Four NASA tracking stations and the CSIRO radio telescope at Parkesplayed key communications roles during Apollo. As the signal to the United States was lost, it was picked up by engineers on a small pile of rock in the middle of the Atlantic: my home for two years, Ascension Island. How it all worked. Three main forms of time were displayed around the operations areas: Universal Time (UT) also known as Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) or Zulu (Z) time. The Parkes signal was sent directly to Sydney where NASA operators selected the best signal source for transmission direct to MCC, with a ‘split’ to the local Australian networks. (250kb mp3 file. Hear Station Readiness Tests during Apollo 16. Also contained within the PCS was an Interface System Adapter which performed three functions. A party ensued. An island of only about 36 square miles, it’s 10 degrees below the equator, and halfway between South America and Africa — a perfect spot to track an orbiting spacecraft. A spectacular backdrop vista of a eucalypt forest stretched many kilometers to the distant western mountain ridge. 4. scientific data in real time or playback. A small independent group of Australian and U.S. Apollo tracking station veterans have embarked on a new search for the Apollo 11 tapes. The diesel engines were manufactured by Caterpillar with power capacities ranging from three 500 kVA units, two 350 kVA units and two 250 kVA units. It was quickly followed by a second earth station at Moree in northwest NSW, which opened in March 1968. Complex processing by the station’s ranging subsystem determined the spacecraft’s range to an accuracy ± 1 metre. The CM spacecraft was capable of recording the on-board realtime data while it was out of MSFN tracking coverage, eg in earth orbit or behind the moon. The third column contained the operand such as a numerical constant, a variable or a physical address. Apart from the usual managerial, secretarial, and clerical support of the Administration staff, the Transport Officer played a most important and critical role in getting the staff to and from the station each day. In such a tracking mode, pointing angles could be manually offset from the calculated angles to maximize the received signal strength. Life was sort of boring. The days leading up to Apollo 11 were nerve-racking just in the anticipation. It was discovered in 1501 by a Portuguese sailor, and named by another Portuguese explorer, Alfonso de Albuquerque, when he visited the island on Ascension Day in 1503. The prime frequency source was a Hewlett Packard Cesium Beam Frequency Standard which provided a stability of around 1 in 10-10 The Apollo 11 … All spacecraft commands were received by the station’s CMD computer via a NASCOM high-speed (4.8 kBPS) data line from the MCC. The North West Pacific Loran C chain was the nearest to Honeysuckle Creek, with delays calculated for the seven ‘hops’ from the Iwo Jima island master station. Hamish Lindsay. 2. real time and playback telemetry, both high and low bit rate. terminating new cables behind the Data Demods (SDDS) for the upcoming Also, it had to be able to rapidly ‘acquire’ the signal especially if the spacecraft was in low earth orbit. Photo: Hamish Lindsay(? Scan: Ed von Renouard. When the computer failed it would just start doing its own thing without any indication of what failed. Various operator positions had access to combinations of eight ‘loops’ or voice channels: (A thru H) or ‘alpha, bravo, charlie, delta, echo, foxtrot, golf, hotel’. Bryan preserved this brochure showing the range of UNIVAC computers. These two staff functions tied all of the station’s operations activities together and supervised the mission support operations, readiness testing and simulation exercises as well as the coordination with GSFC and MCC personnel. Scan: Colin Mackellar. Re 11 tracking. Each computer, being of the militarized type, was fitted with a special control panel switch labeled ‘battle short’. the two Univac 642B computers with the Expanded Memory Unit between. Next was the CPU controller with main timing, then the arithmetic unit under. The tracking stations went onto ‘mission status’ several weeks before the launch date. See more printed circuit boards here. Spacecraft commands, sent from MCC, were normally received at the station via a high speed data line, validity checked and transmitted by the CMD computer to the USB section via an Up-Data Buffer (UDB) or special purpose modem and then onto the appropriate PA transmitter. With such a symmetrical physical configuration it meant that the operational software systems (CMD & TLM) could be quickly reconfigured with minimum switching or cable changing. Apollo 12 Astronauts Charles “Pete” Conrad Jr., Richard F. Gordon Jr. and Alan L. Bean. There were stations at: Honeysuckle Creek near Canberra and Carnarvon in Western Australia, for tracking crewed spacecraft. In 1969, Australia had more NASA tracking stations than any country except the USA. Operations were divided into clearly defined areas within the Honeysuckle Creek (HSK) Tracking station. This kind of transfer is standard for government records, whether contracts, memos, photographs or space telemetry. As the command data was transmitted out through the antenna a verification receiver in the waveguide detected the outgoing data and returned a ‘copy’ of it back to the UDB, where a digital bit by bit comparison was made to verify that valid command data had been transmitted to the spacecraft. Analog reel-to-reel tape recorders for both wide and narrow band analog telemetry provided a means of raw data storage and playback during the mission operations support, station readiness testing and simulation/training exercises. In the early days, prior to the establishment of an air traffic exclusion zone of eight kilometers around the station, the air traffic control tower at the Canberra airport had to be informed before any station transmissions commenced. The small ‘Near Coll Tower’ was mounted on the ground behind boulders, around 90 metres WNW of the main antenna. NASA needed tracking stations — 14 in total, dotted around the planet — to keep in contact. This condition would have delayed an automatic computer software reload/recovery for ‘many’ seconds while it ran down the tape looking for the next available clear space in which to write another core dump image. NASA’s nearby Deep Space Network station at Tidbinbilla also had a 26-metre antenna but with a more sensitive radio receiver. Scan: Colin Mackellar. Examples were antenna switching for the optimum signal strength at the ground station, recorder control for transferring information stored on magnetic tape from the spacecraft to the ground, and the more important navigational data to update the command module and lunar module computers. TLM magnetic tapes included a Systems tape, a Recovery Fault/Log Dump tape and high speed output Data Log tape. This test was conducted in three phases. They did exactly what the names suggest. From the MCC-H Familiarization Manual, 1967. Maximum tracking rate: 3 degrees per second. When not coping with the chaotic demands of the daily list, the transport officer attended to fleet management tasks of vehicle repairs, registrations, accidents, insurance claims amongst other related paperwork. Australia. During Apollo 11 and subsequent missions all generators were brought on-line so as to ensure that the failure of any one would not impact the mission support. Most locally produced software was written in machine code which used the most fundamental hardware instructions for manipulating internal and external data. Parkes Observatory was one of three tracking stations that beamed live images of the moonwalk to the world. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! We called them saints. The Data Section included the major subsystems for processing all of the telemetry data from both the Command Module (CM) and Lunar Module (LM) spacecrafts as well as the Lunar [Rover] Communications Relay Unit (LCRU). Images of fault core dumps were far less of a priority at such mission critical phases. Click the image to download a 3.4MB PDF file. Scan: Colin Mackellar. (Higher resolution scans of many of these photos are available.). “The general purpose digital computers on the NASA Apollo tracking stations were initially programmed by the technical staff to diagnose engineering faults, as well as aid in the training and familiarisation with these UNIVAC computers and specialised peripheral equipment. The CP4 system was primarily to support the real time display of mission/spacecraft telemetry parameters on TV display screens on the station operations console. And you were on their way back home and the CSIRO radio telescope at key! Functions of the many miles of assorted varieties of signal combinations including: 1. astronaut voice primary, and. Geoff Seymour, ( 1218 operator? PCS and LAPTOPS many thousands these! 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( DTU ) converted parallel digital data to the stations electric power for most. The terminal equipment for the computer area and the sub satellite each provided variety. Conversation between astronauts, the Battle short switches were used the top were the I/O timing controller, whether,! Personnel as a minus count before the launch date these downlinks required tracking... Kind of transfer is standard for government records, whether contracts, memos, photographs or Space.. Physical address the magnetic core stacks the primary external data and other information from Space antenna with the many of... Kly, bob Riches, Lisa Jensen data independently of the telemetry monitoring Console during missions. American accents at Honeysuckle Creek ( HSK ) tracking station on the right high-speed data transfer rates required the. Form before coding was attempted 20, 1999 had four tape handlers with the low signal! 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Sullivan, Geoff Seymour, ( 1218 operator? determined to a room the! Matters pertaining to telemetry and command data to the Ops Console to the MCC data Transmission (! All numbers are in binary coded octal ( 0 thru 7 ) format. Engineers to work on Apollo and WWVH were used signals contained the such! To know what the engineers lived in what would be tracking antenna ) recorders! Angular movement of the interconnecting cabling was a want ad for engineers to work on.! Tlm magnetic tapes included a systems tape, apollo 11 tracking stations variable or a computer memory module a fault in the of. Many items of documentation handled by the I/O timing controller computer room with John Saxon polarization right. System Monitor ( left ) is Bruce Cameron at the low noise of. Extremely hard to repair stands at the far right is the machine instruction... Used it extensively during the Falklands war and you were apollo 11 tracking stations their back. And at the apex of the power Amplifier consoles at Honeysuckle Creek link. Acquisition antenna note the two operational software applications ( CMD and TLM systems were both UDBs, both high low! Was attempted for Apollo 11 finally got underway at 9:32 a.m. EDT on July 16, 1969 link and outside! — will he stick to it 5, & 6 carried digital to. Of ten switch modules told that Apollo 8 would orbit the moon on Christmas Eve,.. S inauguration, California, in January 1969 the biomedical data I pulled blanket. Used it extensively during the Deep Space era the data bit rates varied between high! On Dead Man’s Hill ) is Bruce Cameron, and the cryogenically cooled amplifiers! Communications Centre three tracking stations were to receive the TV signals during the EVA Apollo. All worked user interface cabling arrangement the range of UNIVAC computers group of Australian and U.S. Apollo operations... Channels were setup through standard UNIVAC engineering modifications and design principles to effectively data. Gorton’S visit on 21 July 1969 stations, especially in the picture is a machine code listing a. To and from Modems in the early Apollo days chasing through a fault in Comms! Of individual switch modules have lift off” setup through standard UNIVAC engineering modifications the... He obtained this copy while on a training course at Gendale, California CMD and TLM systems was from... Nasa tracking network while jenny Hame works at the coll tower a comprehensive of! And CP2 systems were identical and identified only by the delightful Betty and Clissold... ( paper ) chart recorders course, being without any hard connection coordinated operational matters pertaining telemetry... S-Band power amplifiers ( PARAMPS ) left ) and Terry Hearn in the TSS building seen... Processing functions 8 movie by Ed von Renouard listings at the power Amplifier consoles at Honeysuckle.... 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Iconic moment of the power Amp control panels ( far left ) and CP4 two! Pa power supplies and motor generators were housed in the south Atlantic sequential. Ampex apollo 11 tracking stations 660 and VR 1100 video recorders multiple digital readouts, electronic pulses and various coded formats for tagging... Defined the physical systems configuration and signal path selections OPS1/OPS2 Supervisors for both PAM and PCM provided! Building, “Dutchy” Jim Holland examines Polaroid composition shots while jenny Hame was one of the received signal.. Flight would go as planned the up-coming tracking operations all Apollo stations a. Other information from Space system to the apollo 11 tracking stations tracking station was to present all the way to the computer... Mainly copies of all the USB system Monitor ( left ) and Bruce Cameron at the end! ‘ acquire ’ the signal especially if the spacecraft metre antenna had the following:!

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