The Advanced Technology Airborne Computer (ATAC) was a product of

Itek Itek Corporation was a United States defense contractor that initially specialized in camera systems for spy satellites and various other reconnaissance systems. In the early 1960s they built a conglomerate in a fashion similar to LTV or Litto ...

(a division of

Litton Industries Litton Industries was a large defense contractor in the United States named after inventor Charles Litton Sr. During the 1960s, the company began acquiring many unrelated firms and became one of the largest conglomerates in the United States. ...

), used on US naval aircraft, and the NASA

Galileo (spacecraft) ''Galileo'' was an American robotic space probe that studied the planet Jupiter and its moons, as well as the asteroids Gaspra and Ida. Named after the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei, it consisted of an orbiter and an entry probe. It was ...

. The ATAC was built using AMD 2901 4-bit processors and had a basic cycle time of 250 ns. It could be programmed in

HAL/S HAL/S (''High-order Assembly Language/Shuttle'') is a real-time aerospace programming language compiler and cross-compiler for avionics applications used by NASA and associated agencies ( JPL, etc.). It has been used in many U.S. space projects si ...

, and could be microprogrammed to add new instructions. The

Galileo project ''Galileo'' was an American robotic space program that studied the planet Jupiter and its moons, as well as several other Solar System bodies. Named after the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei, the ''Galileo'' spacecraft consisted of an or ...

added four instructions.

Use on US Naval aircraft

Use by
Galileo project ''Galileo'' was an American robotic space program that studied the planet Jupiter and its moons, as well as several other Solar System bodies. Named after the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei, the ''Galileo'' spacecraft consisted of an or ...

The Galileo Attitude and Articulation Control System (AACSE) was controlled by two Itek Advanced Technology Airborne Computers (ATAC), built using radiation-hardened 2901s. The project wrote their own GRACOS (Galileo realtime Attitude Control Operating System). The Galileo project had radiation-hardened 2901 processors made (by Sandia National Lab) for the spacecraft.

Use on US Naval aircraft

Use by
Galileo project ''Galileo'' was an American robotic space program that studied the planet Jupiter and its moons, as well as several other Solar System bodies. Named after the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei, the ''Galileo'' spacecraft consisted of an or ...

References

Further reading

Use on US Naval aircraft

Use by Galileo project ''Galileo'' was an American robotic space program that studied the planet Jupiter and its moons, as well as several other Solar System bodies. Named after the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei, the ''Galileo'' spacecraft consisted of an or ...

References

Further reading

Use by
Galileo project ''Galileo'' was an American robotic space program that studied the planet Jupiter and its moons, as well as several other Solar System bodies. Named after the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei, the ''Galileo'' spacecraft consisted of an or ...