Reverse engineering circuitry in a Spacelab computer from 1980

Summary

Spacelab was a reusable laboratory that could be carried in the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle, providing lab space for astronauts and experiments. Spacelab was controlled by a French-built minicomputer, called the Mitra 125 MS. Unlike modern computers, this computer didn't contain a microprocessor chip. Instead, its 16-bit processor was constructed from several boards of chips. In this article, I reverse-engineer one of the processor boards, shown below, part of the computer's Arithmetic/Logic Unit (ALU). The Mitra 125 MS computer, built by CIMSA, with one of the ALU/register cards shown. Spacelab consisted of a pressurized cylindrical laboratory that held experiments, computers, and work areas for researchers. A tunnel connected the laboratory to the Shuttle, allowing researchers to move between the Shuttle and Spacelab. Spacelab also supported up to five unpressurized "pallets" that were exposed to space, holding experiments such as telescopes and sensors. The illustration below shows the tunnel, the Spacelab laboratory, and a pallet installed in the Shuttle's cargo bay.1 Because Spacelab was a European project, it used a European computer, the Mitra 125 MS. The Mitra line started in 1971 when a French company called CII introduced the Mitra 15 minicomputer, a 16-bit computer that used magnetic core memory. Mitra is a French acronym2 that translates as "Mini-machine for Real-Time and Automatic Computing." As the name suggests, Mitra was both small and designed for real-time computing, making it suitable for controlling experiments. The Mitra 15 was a popular computer, with almost 8000 units sold. In 1975, CII produced a successor called the Mitra 125. The Mitra 125 improved on the Mitra 15 by adding memory management, I/O processors, higher performance, and additional instructions. Spacelab used the Mitra 125 MS minicomputer,3 a militarized variant of the Mitra 125 that was produced by a company called CIMSA. A Spacelab mission had three of these computers: the S...