HP-41CX in Space SpaceLab Exhibit (hecube take note)

[Dan W]

I was in Munich last week and visited the Deutches Museum, which is all about science and technology. A wonderful museum, highly recommended to anyone here.

In the aerospace section I found this small exhibit about a German astronaut using the HP-41CX on the SpaceLab D1 mission in 1985. The English text reads:

Quote:

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D1-SAPCELAB [sic] Mission, 1985
Calculator: Hewlett-Packard, USA, 1984
Voltmeter: Walcher Elektronik GmbH, Kirchheim, 1985

The voltmeter is an instrument for measuring voltage and temperature. It contains an analog-to-digital converter that feeds the measured values to the calculator for processing. The calculator is a slightly modified standard HP 41 calculator. Astronaut Ernst Messerschmid devised this voltmeter to be used for experiments in materials science aboard the 1985 German D1 mission.

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The exhibit includes the calculator and the voltmeter, with an interface to one of the expansion slots. There are two notebooks with the handwritten program code, derivation and user’s guide. A couple of lines of code are obscured but it would be relatively easy to replicate.

Jimmy, you are welcome to use these photos on your site. The photos are quite large so I am including just the links below for download.

Cheers,

-- Dan

http://members.cox.net/revolvr/DMDeutchesMuseumexterior.JPG

http://members.cox.net/revolvr/DMSpacehabandHP41CXcalcandbook.JPG

http://members.cox.net/revolvr/DMSpacehabandHP41CXexhibit.JPG

http://members.cox.net/revolvr/DMSpacehabandHP41CXexhibitphoto.JPG

http://members.cox.net/revolvr/DMSpacehabandHP41CXpgmbook.JPG

http://members.cox.net/revolvr/DMSpacehabandHP41CXpgmbookenhanced.JPG

Edited: 12 Sept 2009, 6:30 p.m. after one or more responses were posted

[Marcus von Cube, Germany]

Hi Dan, time to go to Munich. Last time I visited the museum, the HP-41 had yet to be invented.

Do you have a reason, to call the mission "spacehab" instead of "spacelab"?

[Dan W]

Just a typo on my part.

[Martin Pinckney]

Dan, I am wondering if these are scans of a film images, rather than straight digital?

[Dan W]

No these are all digital. They were taken at ISO-200.

Edited: 12 Sept 2009, 6:32 p.m.

[Raymond Del Tondo]

Hi,

nearly all links seem to be broken, except for the first pic.

The 2nd pic loads only the upper half, the others don't load at all.

Bandwith restrictions?

Raymond

[Dan W]

Yea, appears to be a bandwidth problem. I uploaded a new set of smaller photos. If you tried to download them you may have to clear your cache to see the new versions (in FireFox anyway).

[hecube]

Got it!

Thanks and nice to know some of you are watching my back!

And damn! Part of the program listing is not visible! Hasn't it occured to the curator that fans might want to try the program on their 25+ years old HP-41?!

Edited: 13 Sept 2009, 12:33 a.m.

[Walter B]

Quote:

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And damn! Part of the program listing is not visible! Hasn't it occured to the curator that fans might want to try the program on their 25+ years old HP-41?!

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Well, let me guess a bit. The steps 18, 19, 20, and 27 through 32 are obscured, some of them only partially. Ernst Messerschmid seems to have been a systematic programmer. So my guess is:

18 LBL C        27 LBL D

19 LBL 03       28 LBL 04

20 TRIGGER      29 

                30 VIEW .6

                31 STOP

                32 MEAN

So there's only one step missing still. Come on ... :)

HTH,

Walter

Edited: 14 Sept 2009, 12:13 p.m.

[Walter B]

Quote:

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I was in Munich last week and visited the Deutches Museum, which is all about science and technology. A wonderful museum, highly recommended to anyone here.

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For those of you looking for this site, you'll find it under "Deutsches Museum" easier. Worth a visit for sure.

[hecube]

Here's the Museum's web page regarding this exhibit:

http://www.deutsches-museum.de/en/collections/transport/astronautics/experiments/voltmeter/

Edited: 13 Sept 2009, 12:48 a.m.

[Matt Kernal]

"cpocket alculator" :-)

[hecube]

I saw that. Looks russian!

[Dan W]

Yes, and also "D1-SAPCELAB". So much for German attention to detail. ;)

[hecube]

Blog is updated.

Thanks again!

[Johnny Bjoern Rasmussen]

Back in 1993 I had the pleasure to visit Deutches Museum. The exhibit has probably changed since then...

[Dan W]

Unfortunately I missed the computing section so I can't say if that's still there. They started ushering everybody out just before 5 PM and I realized I hadn't made it up there. I'll just have to go back. There's a lot I missed due to lack of time, and I had 2 hours.

[Marcus von Cube, Germany]

You'll need two weeks, not two hours! ;)