I have a question? e2e = 51.89 (Page 22).

[tom234]

(02-23-2023 04:44 AM)Steve Simpkin Wrote:  That is a very interesting technical note from Nov 27, 1959. It has a number of examples of satellite de-orbit burn calculations. At the time, the average person would have had limited options to perform these calculations. A Slide Rule or tables come to mind. There is mention of using an IBM 704 computer. The IBM 704 was a large digital mainframe computer introduced by IBM in 1954. It was the first mass-produced computer with hardware for floating-point arithmetic. Changes from the 701 include the use of magnetic-core memory instead of Williams tubes.

In its day, the 704 was an exceptionally reliable machine. Being a vacuum-tube machine, however, the IBM 704 had very poor reliability by today's standards. On average, the machine failed around every 8 hours.

My favorite quote (quite an understatement).

“With a $2M price tag and weighing over 30,000 lbs, the IBM 704 was not a casual purchase.”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_704

IBM 380s we used this is decades before my time.