Weave Your Own Memory > A Staggering 64 Bits of Apollo-Era Ferrite-Core Memory Can be Yours [Hands On

Abstract

The spacecraft that took men to the surface of the moon and back relied on computers that pushed the state of the art when they were built. Designed by MIT, the Apollo Guidance Computers came with 72 kilobytes of ROM and 4 kilobytes of RAM. This memory used a form of magnetic core memory, where multiple hair-thin wires passed through tiny ferrite toroids to store 1s and 0s. The work of assembling the AGC memories fell to women at Raytheon who formerly worked with textiles, and once you complete the Core64 kit, you will have a new-found respect for their skills.