Identify NASA Apollo/Skylab mainframe tapes - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: apollo16uvc
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: April 15, 2020, 04:02:44 pm
content: GreetingsEEVBLOG,For the past few years I and other volunteers have been busy with several NASA mainframe computers tapes in my collection.These tape reels are from the 70's meant to be used in large computers common in those days.There are two sets: Switch Action Table Tapes used on Apollo 16 and Skylab, and Pioneer 10/11 imagery tapes.We have been able to recover data from both sets, and were even able to process the raw photography data from the Pioneer tapes to complete photos that match NASA records.But lets talk about the Apollo/Skylab tapes for now:These tapes originated from Generic Electric, Space Divison, Apollo and Ground systems. They were send to NASA's Marshal Space Flight Center.They date from the 70's.On the tapes are written launch vehicle IDs that match Apollo 16 and Skylab missions.SAT tape 1179, Apollo 16 in our tape streamer:SAT tape 1179 front:SAT tape 1179 ASCII data:SwitchActionTP1179.txt(2077.68 kB - downloaded 66 times.)The data written on the SAT tapes is IBM EBDIC, bascially IBM's variant of modern ASCII. And so, we were easily able to convert the EBDIC data to ASCII to make it readable on modern computer systems.Here are some random samples from the tape:Header appears to be block 0 to 12:Block 10:R/L 40M17360-11 E/O 8S-0412 REV L D/I 10/27/71 ECP 10-3216 EBlock 12:R/L 40M17360-11 E/O 8S-0413 REV M D/I 10/28/71 ECP 10-3206 E 511 FRT-1Block 6954:S 73 00 L DO 1728 IVB COLD HE XOVER VLV CLOSED NONE C JBlock 6955:S 73 01 L DO 1729 IVB COLD HE XOVER VLV OPEN NONE C JBlock 6957:S 73 02 L DO 1730 IVB LOX TANK PRESSURIZED NONE C JBlock 11407:S 53 07 M DI 2767 IVB STATUS SAFE AND ARM SAFE NONE R JBlock 11408:S 53 08 M DI 2768 IVB EBW NO 1 PWR ON NONE R JBlock 11410:S 53 09 M DI 2769 IVB EBW NO 2 PWR ON NONE R JBlock 11411:S 53 10 M DI 2770 IVB RSCR NO 1 PWR ON NONE R JBlock 11412:S 53 11 M DI 2771 IVB RSCR NO 2 PWR ON NONE R JBlock 20981:D D EE 4296 INT SPAREBlock 20982:D D EE 4297 INT LEFT HOOK OPEN NO. 2Block 20984:D D EE 4298 INT RIGHT HOOK OPEN NO. 2Block 20985:D D EE 4299 EDS PAD ABORT REQUEST A OR BBlock 20987:D D EE 4300 EDS PAD ABORT REQUEST A OR BArchive.org provides access to all processed and raw data:https://archive.org/details/SpaceDataSAT 1179SAT 1820SAT 2090SAT 2909I have been wanting to reach out to people like David Jones, Scot Manley and Amy Shira who would hopefully have the reach and viewerbase to finally discovery what these tapes were used for.If anybody wants to help figure out this mystery your help would be greatly appreciated! I suspect the tapes were used at the Launch Control computers for something, maybe diagnostics?Best regards,Niels

author: aaron4196
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: April 16, 2020, 01:06:36 pm
content: The following is just speculation on my part:My hunch is that this might be a lookup table that maps switch ID numbers to more descriptive text names for the switches. The telemetry sent from the spacecraft to the ground probably included every input the astronauts made on their control panels using the various buttons and toggle switches. Due to the technical limitations of the era (comm bandwidth and memory), the telemetry probably consisted of short numeric codes for everything. A lookup table would have allowed the ground controllers to see text descriptions on their consoles corresponding to the switches being thrown in the spacecraft.I seem to recall hearing that there were various design changes between each spacecraft built (because they were cutting edge, being developed in a relatively short time frame, issues were discovered during each flight, etc.). So that might explain why the data would be unique to each spacecraft delivered by the supplier.

author: PA0PBZ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 16, 2020, 02:03:53 pm
content: Quote from: aaron4196 on April 16, 2020, 01:06:36 pmThat might very well possible! Now find some telemetry data to match and you will know for sure.Why are the blocks not numbered consecutive while he content seems to be?