Inside the Apollo Guidance Computer's Core Memory

Re:Inside the Apollo Guidance Computer's Core Memory by userbinator on Wednesday January 30, 2019 @07:54AM (#19034627)

We attempted to find the location of the broken wire with X-rays, but couldn't spot the break. Time-domain reflectometry suggests the break is inconveniently located in the middle of the core planes. We are currently investigating options to deal with this.

Depending on what it was potted with, dissolving the potting to repair it might be feasible. Many others have done this with (admittedly less rare and fragile) not-easily-replaceable electronics before, but it's a difficult and time-consuming process. The 38AWG wire is ~0.1mm so the traditional "pick out bits of potting" method is unlikely to keep the wire intact --- something more like dissolving and gently washing away the compound would be preferable.

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Re:Inside the Apollo Guidance Computer's Core Memory by kens on Wednesday January 30, 2019 @11:52AM (#19036745)

We figured that if the break was near the outside of the module, we might be able to dissolve the potting around the break. But unpotting the entire module to search for the break has way too big a chance of breaking more wires or causing more damage.

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