Feast your eyes on the Apollo Transponder and Power Amplifier
Added 2021-07-24 01:11:38 +0000 UTCA couple pictures of the Apollo S-Band transponder and power amplifier we picked up at Steve Jurvetson's in the last video.
The transponder:
The power amplifier (does not come out of the case)
Marc
Comments
Not at all! In 1965, a 2 GHz transponder that small and that capable was just unheard of! The SMA connectors and their higher frequency descendants are still used today on space microwave equipment (and not heavy at all). Even more amazing, this microwave transponder is all solid state. I didn't think they could do that in 1965. The power amplifier though could not eshew TWT tubes, and is therefore much larger for less functionality. That said TWT tubes are still used in satellites today too... The power amp is many times redundant. The rats nest of coax you see is to deal with redundancy: it is used to reconfigure the whole box via microwave relays around possible failures. Can't afford to lose comms.
CuriousMarc
2021-07-25 06:38:26 +0000 UTC
