Weaving software into core memory by hand

The Computer for the Apollo Program Used Rope Memory Woven by Little Old Ladies

 Casey Chan

If you thought the fact that an iPhone was four times as powerful as the on-board computer of the Curiosity Rover was unbelievable, take a look at the meager tech the Apollo Program used to get into space. The computer was so pitiful that the software of the Apollo guidance computer was literally hand woven into its memory.

The overall memory of the Apollo Guidance Computer was equivalent to 72kb (in modern terms) and the software had to be woven into the core rope memory, women in factories put the software together by looping wires through a core and around a core to represent the 1's and 0's of computer programs. As you could imagine, the process was extremely slow, tedious and a nightmare to put together but still... space! These things were used to go to space! Unbelievable.