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Minuteman Weapon System History and Description (2001) [pdf]
- lwhalen 3y agoGosh I really wish this WASN'T of general interest these days, but in the immortal punchline of Dave Chappelle - "I understand"
- timekiller 3y agoWasn’t that Chris rock in his bit about O.J.?
- trollerator23 3y agoWhat?
- lwhalen 3y agoI said: Gosh I really wish this WASN'T of general interest these days, but in the immortal punchline of Dave Chappelle - "I understand"
- detourdog 3y agoI feel compelled to post some images of inertial guidance systems. Most of these parts are from the Minuteman 1 although there are some earlier and later guidance system components. The white backplane and the gyroscopes are Minuteman 1 parts. https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0YG4TcsmGWIVSf https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0YG4TcsmGWIVSf
- iab 3y agoThese are great, how did you come across / where did you get them?
- detourdog 3y agoI have been collecting Autonetics material since the early days of eBay.
- iab 3y agoWould love to see any/all other albums/photos that you are willing to share.
- detourdog 3y agoI’m working on it. Many projects but documenting this collection is bubbling up to the top.
- detourdog 3y agoHere is a Nixdorf 820 with the ROD memory https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0Y59UlCqNHCjx https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0Y59UlCqNHCjx https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/memory-storage/8/264/1116 https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/memory-storage/8/... This computer earned listing for this innovation. https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/memory-storage/8/264 https://www.computerhistory.org/revolution/memory-storage/8/... Which puts into context. I also included the story of it's previous life. My thinking is we are focused on making circuits too small. We need big circuits that make big but simple decisions. I was collecting pre-microprocessor computing artifacts for a while. I now need to get sit down and figure out what I have. In the meantime I use them as reference idea to feed my development of a 100 year computer.
- iab 3y agoSo interesting, thanks for sharing
- trollerator23 3y agoGood ole' Autonetics. BTW you can see some of these at the Air and Space Museum in DC, and a smaller set at the Computer Science Museum in ... Palo Alto? Mountain View? (that area)
- fragmede 3y agoMountain View https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102686251 https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/10268625...
- jcims 3y ago>The MGS is an inertial guidance system which directs the flight of the missile. The guidance system operates continuously while the missile is in alert status, thus enabling the missile to be launched in less than one minute. I wonder how often the missile is in alert status? Presumably regular testing? For those just skimming the guidance system info (for Minuteman III) starts on page 49. Looks like they miniaturized it some and that giant moon lander backplane seems to be substantially reduced? Amazing pics, thanks for sharing!
- dumah 3y agoRegular testing is one of the few times a US ICBM would _not_ be in alert status. Ground-based launchers are not survivable and must be ready to fire promptly after attack warning.
- detourdog 3y agoWhat do you mean aground based launch isn’t survivable?
- teeray 3y agoApart from regular testing, I would imagine anything at or above DEFCON 3 would put missiles in alert status. That level requires the USAF to be ready to go in 15 minutes.
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- nocoiner 3y agoThis has more detail than I would have expected, but I see there’s virtually nothing about the reentry bus. From what I’ve read, that’s where most of the secret sauce involving accuracy comes into play.
- detourdog 3y agoWhat I know about re-entry is that while out of the atmosphere it was using star charts to determine location. My favorite fact is that the hard drive also acted as the clock. Each rotation grabbed the program codes from the disk to execute them.
- trollerator23 3y agoWhat do you mean, the warhead (the reentry body) or the last stage? Because the warhead is passive.
- lobochrome 3y agoIt's bizarre that this type of information is made publicly available due to freedom of information legislation. What is the benefit? Or is it merely an acceptable side effect of the greater good that FoIA delivers? Not that my curiosity isn't triggered, but...
- ghaff 3y agoI guess… Why wouldn’t it be? At some point why would you keep it classified? Funnily enough I’m just reading a book on Draper Labs and there’s a huge amount of detail on old inertial guidance systems.
- pinewurst 3y agoThe book to read is “Inventing Accuracy” by Donald Mackenzie
- dingaling 3y agoAt what level is the book pitched? Detailed technical tome or pop-sci? I was hugely disappointed by Blind Man's Bluff despite all the praise for it as it was written for a lay-audience.
- pinewurst 3y agoSome details - it’s an academic study, definitely not pop-sci.
- ghaff 3y agoBlind Man's Bluff is a history of submarine espionage for a mainstream audience. I'm not sure what else one would reasonably expect of it. Hot Spot of Innovation about Doc Draper and inertial guidance isn't academic but it does go into quite a bit of technical detail.
- ThisIsMyAltAcct 3y ago> What is the benefit? Sticking to our principles
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- PostOnce 3y agoIf you like this site you'll also like www.ed-thelen.org (about Nike missiles)
- ghaff 3y agoThere’s also a Nike site across the Golden Gate Bridge from SF.
- m1keil 3y agoRelated: Command and Control by Eric Schlosser Great book.
- cameldrv 3y agoOn the guidance side, "Inventing Accuracy: A Historical Sociology of Nuclear Missile Guidance" is awesome.
- dmd 3y agoAs implied in the title, this book focuses on sociology and philosophy of science and has very little technical content.
- detourdog 3y agoIt also contains a good section on Autonetics. The sociology is probably surrounding the topic od technical advancemnet.
- trollerator23 3y agoIt is a great book though. For technical stuff you have to look for papers unfortunately.
- jrmcauliffe 3y agoGenuine page turner.
- daltonlp 3y agoAnd on the policy side: The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner by Daniel Ellsberg
- DavidPeiffer 3y agoSouth Dakota is home to a preserved missile site. I'd highly recommend stopping by if you're ever in the area. It was fascinating to see the control room as the tour guides talked through the launch protocol. Back in high school ~17 years ago I came across a website talking about it, then a couple months later on a road trip, I remembered it as we were driving though South Dakota. We were about 7 miles away when I remembered, and it was well worth stopping. https://www.nps.gov/mimi/index.htm https://www.nps.gov/mimi/index.htm
- bufordtwain 3y agoIt's very interesting. I think you have to book ahead for a tour these days.
- ricksunny 3y agoFun fact: The Air Force's Minuteman guru, Edward Hall, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_N._Hall https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_N._Hall had a brother in the Manhattan Project, Theodore Hall, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Hall https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Hall who passed early atomic weapon design information to the USSR. The irony of a family exercising pivotal roles on both sides of a global power-shaping conflict. The 2nd Wikipedia article's cited background, from The Nation: https://www.thenation.com/article/world/ted-hall-espionage-fbi/ https://www.thenation.com/article/world/ted-hall-espionage-f...
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 3y agoI love the artwork on this Minuteman blast door: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Minuteman_silo_blast_door%2C_front.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Minutema...