“One small step for man, one giant leap for humanity.” With this phrase said on July 20, 1969, American astronaut Neil Armstrong made history as the first human being to set foot on the surface of the Moon, an epic journey on the part of the mission. Apollo 11 that still has not been equaled and that feels even more surprising 57 years after what happened due to the technical challenges that NASA scientists had to overcome.
Meanwhile, modern phones like the iPhone 15 Pro have extraordinary capabilities of up to 3.78 GHz, and 8GB RAM – note the G that indicates an increase of the order of magnitude -, both thousands and even millions of the device that allowed astronauts to step on the Moon. However, no one is calling on Apple or Samsung to collaborate with NASA on the next lunar mission.
The reason is that despite the AGC’s apparent lack of power, it was designed with a specific purpose that it fulfilled excellently.
The first was to calculate the necessary course to reach the Mooncalibrating the astronomical measurements that the astronauts fed it during the flight to maintain or correct its position.
The second mission was equally important, which It consisted of communicating with about 150 devices on the shipsuch as thrusters, interfaces and more. In that it was incredibly effective, in successfully executing the mission despite some problems along the way and in this aspect, if the word “power” is taken as the ability or power to do something, a modern telephone is not more powerful than the AGC, at least in relation to moon landings.
But then, why do comparisons continue to be made between mobile devices and a computer designed for the rigors of space? Perhaps it has to do with the book “The Physics of the Future” (2011), where the physicist Michio Kaku points out “Today, your cell phone has more computing power than all of NASA had in 1969, when it put two astronauts on the Moon.”, a passage that highlights the achievements of scientists of the time in achieving great things despite technological limitations and inspires us to achieve more with our new capabilities.
For our part, we have a phrase from popular wisdom that also adapts to the situation: “The important thing is not the power of the tool, but how you use it”.