космос до компьютеров

[nsg]

Наткнулся на интересную статейку.

(не знаю будет ли работать ссылка для неподписанных)
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/sliderule/message/33178

To my knowledge only one rule was designed specifically for solving
problems that are frequently encountered in several spaceflight
technological areas.

This rule, the Aristo 80123, was designed by engineers at Martin's
Space System Division (now part of Lockheed Martin) and manufactured
by Aristo in 1962.

Now, of course, replaced by computers, this rule enabled the user to
determine very rapidly individual booster stage sizes and takeoff
weights for single- and multi-stage boosters, as well as mission
velocity requirements and associated flight parameters for many
ballistic, orbital and interplanetary problems.

Pictures of it may be found at:

http://sliderules.lovett.com/aristo80123/aristo80123.htm

To give the flavour of the type of problem that could be solved using
this rule:

Example:

Design a four-stage booster capable of soft landing a 10,000 pound
spacecraft on the moon. Use the first two stages to achieve an
easterly launch to a 200 mile earth orbit, the third stage to
transfer from the earth's orbit to the moon's orbit, and the fourth
stage to soft land on the moon. Use a specific impulse of 435
seconds for all four stages and a propellant mass fraction of 0.93,
0.93, 0.90 and 0.88 for the first, second, third and fourth stages,
respectively.

End example.

It is interesting to note that this rule was produced at the
beginning of the American Gemini Space Project and long before the
Apollo program. Whether this rule played any part in either of these
programs is unknown.

Regards,

Rod

Интересно что Aristo -- немецкая фирма, а линейка вся в футах и милях.

[nsg]

Логарифмическая линейка Олдрина на ebay.
Item number: 170144927447