> The first operational (read actually worked) ballistic rocket (read leaves
> the atmosphere and returns) was of course the German V2, which was built by
> Von Braun and many others.  The guidance was a tube circuit that mixed (they
> called it a mixing circuit) the gyro and vane position signals and generated
> servo signals for positioning the vanes.  I bet that we can get that to work
> with a PIC.  Possibly an 8 pin device.  Mars is a bit more complicated, that
> might be a bit tougher.  But we certainly can loft a body to space with a
> PIC.  I bet that would be great PR.
>
> Chris Eddy

I once held an Apollo flight computer in my hands. It was a pretty crude device
-
you keyed in the program by hand (had those big "arthritis" buttons, so it could
be worked in a space suit). It was < 1K memory, so I'd say any pic except maybe
a
12C508 would probably outrun it.
Definitely they'd work faster.
It was extremely solidly built - basicly they'd encapsulated the board, and that
 was
in a milled aluminum case that form-fit the encapsulant. It was about 6" x 6" x
4",
and felt like a solid aluminum block.
If memory serves it was LCD screen.

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