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Old 21st Jul 2019, 4:35 pm   #5
PaulM
Hexode
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Near Lincoln, UK.
Posts: 483
Default Re: Apollo TV and Communications Documentation

Slightly OT - but it is Apollo TV, of sorts - I found this paper on space flight simulators on the NASA site:

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/c...9730011149.pdf

On pages 14-29 there are descriptions of the basic flight simulation technology used in training. This is well before real-time computer IG (Image Generation) and it's a mix of model boards, 1,000+ line TV cameras, flying spot scanners (with scan warping) scanning high-resolution film, mechanical 'star balls' and collimated display optics. It was the best that could be done, but it was very limited. A lot of thought and ingenuity had clearly gone into the techniques and requirements, borrowing from the flight simulation visuals technology of the day (model boards), collimated CRT displays and adapting planetarium star ball technology.

It's a long way from today's flight sim visuals, but it helped sow the seed for later technologies.

Best regards,

Paul M
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