8 Jun
2005
8 Jun
'05
12:48 p.m.
At 3:01 PM -0400 6/8/05, Paul Koning wrote:
I want to stay out of this as I'm too close to JPL, but... JPL did
not have any CDCs at the time. At JPL proper for spacecraft data
processing they had 3 IBM 360s [1st floor] and 3 Univac 1108s [2nd
floor? hazy memory] in the SFOC.
I don't know anything about these tapes in particular, but it is
possible they were recorded in analog right off the receivers at the
tracking stations (Madrid, Canberra, or Goldstone) and sent to the
Lab. Another alternative is that they were written by Modcomps off
of the comm link from the tracking stations [basement of SFOC]. Many
other possibilities also exist in the signal and data processing
chain. Folks familiar with that project would be best equipped to
answer. [I started in '77 on Voyager, aka MJS in some circles. I
never worked on any of the Pioneers.]
John
>>>> "William" == William Donzelli <aw288 at osfn.org> writes:
> I wonder if it's a Cyber. Those of
course still exist in reality,
> as well as in emulation.
William> Why do you think it was a CDC? JPL had no need for speed for
William> these tapes.
For processing the data? Remember, I'm talking about the
postprocessing; it doesn't matter what system wrote the data.
Cybers were popular back then for people who expected to do serious
crunching, even if not all the time. That's the only reason I was
wondering -- it wasn't even as much as an assumption...
paul