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We obtained a mysterious box of 1960s electronics. I reverse-engineered it, and with much effort, we got it running. It turns out to be a test unit for testing NASA's Up-Data Link, a system from the Apollo moon landing to control the spacecraft from the ground. Let's take a look inside... 1/n

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If the de-funding and collapse of NASA continues, I may want to dig out my old SPARCstation and bootup FORTH. That's the era of space probes we'll revert to. I wonder if I still have any Harris 1802s somewhere...

I occasionally stumble across ancient boxes (nothing like cool NASA stuff). I've found that for anything with a processor and a serial port, FORTH is the fastest first probe. Using a tethered connection where the only software needed on the target system is: load a byte, store a byte, and run.

I dare you reverse-engineer the test set for the Space Shuttle SRMS Display and Control Panel. My memory is failing. I think it's A1A8 or A8A1. Even the engineers who worked on it don't know how it works. 😂 No joke! The panel is just under the aft-bay window.

This box has thirteen orange digits at the top, which look like Nixie tubes. But they are a different technology called edge-lit lightguide display. Each digit has ten plastic sheets and ten lightbulbs. Each sheet has dots etched in the shape of a number. Lighting a sheet lights up that number.

The box uses an old style of electronics that predates integrated circuits. Each thumb-sized encapsulated module implements a few logic gates or other simple circuit. A cryptic label such as "2/2G&2/1G" hints at the function. 3/n

The modules were mounted on circuit boards in rows with a module-sized gap in between. Two boards could be fitted together with modules sliding into gaps to form a tight sandwich. These dense sandwiches slid into the top of the box to create its circuits. 4/n

How could I find out what's inside these sealed modules and what they do? I tested various signals to learn their functions. Then @lumafield.bsky.social did a 3D CT scan to reveal the components (transistors, diodes, resistors, and capacitors) stacked inside.

"This board had ten white wires that had been cut, going to missing components labeled MP1, R2, L1, and L2. By studying the circuitry, I determined that MP1 had been a 4-kHz oscillator that provided the master clock for the Test Set. R1 was simply a potentiometer to adjust signal levels." R2 or R1?