Author here for your mechanical computer questions...
P.S. there are two more parts to the series, going into more details on the Globus, explaining the circuitry and the "algorithms": https://www.righto.com/2023/03/reverse-engineering-electroni... https://www.righto.com/2023/03/reverse-engineering-globus-in...
CuriousMarc has a 3 part video about restoring one, worth a watch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmHaCQ8Ul6E
Read a very interesting book on the space race from the soviet side. One of the things that stood out was the lack of solid state transistor technology meant that they were using tube transistors in their space craft. This was one of the reasons they had problems doing spacewalks. They couldn't expose the interior of their capsules to space or the electronics would go pop. The Wrong Stuff How the Soviet Space Program Crashed and Burned by John strausbaugh https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/john-strausbaugh/th...
The title itself should tell you that the book is there to sensationalize and grind an axe, not to actually provide any historical accuracy.
And yep, the author didn't even bother to use primary sources: https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4851/1
It's like recommending a book about Apollo program written by Russians without reading any US documentation.
If there has to be a western author, James Harford's Korolev biography is a better put together look into Soviet space program and actually has some proper academic reviews.
I read "Beyond: The Astonishing Story of the First Human to Leave Our Planet and Journey into Space" and found it very interesting. It is a detailed history of the early Soviet space program and Yuri Gagarin's flight.
that's bullshit. vacuum tubes are used in spacecraft by NASA too. it's likely they are still used. they don't pop in vacuum. plus they're more radiation resistant thwn transistors.
Why would a vacuum tube „pop“ when exposed to vacuum?
probably because the vacuum of space is way more extreme than inside the tube which would cause pressure on the seals
I always found mechanical calculators fascinating, here’s an article with a video explanation about the MK1 navy fire control computer. https://hackaday.com/2014/10/28/retrotechtacular-fire-contro...
Whether or not its technically inferior to American space technology at the time, you have to admire the ingenuity.
Imagine going to space using gears moving a pin on a globe.
Imagine going to space by lighting up rocket engines with giant matches:
https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/rockets/a19966/russia...
Ha, the similar technology that Eridians used to launch Rocky's blip-A.
Now we need one on the Apollo 8 ball.
As soon as someone loans us an FDAI...