Elaboration on ACE

Elaboration on the ACE

Preface

In this page are discussed:

The floorplans of the KSC MSOB ACE-SC control rooms.
The panel layout of each control room console.
A block diagram of the checkout chain: the Control Room, the Computer Room, the Terminal Room and the spacecraft vicinity equipment and the spacecraft which is the test/checkout object.
The control panels by which test sequences could be initiated to checkout the spacecraft.
These control panels were called START modules. START is an acronym for Selection-To-Activate-Random-Testing and it is referring to the employed test methodology. The control panels, in conjunction with a computer system, enabled NASA engineers to run various scripted tests randomly on spacecraft systems to assess their quality. There were three types of these START modules to allow for three ways of test execution. These modules will be discussed later on.

The floorplans and the panel layouts are not reproductions of existing drawings or based on existing technical descriptions, they have however been inferred from photos, some drawings and operational descriptions. So to conclude this page a review will be given about the source information used to create the floor plans and the panel layouts in this page.

Note:
In total fourteen ACE-SC systems have been installed at various locations to enable extensive testing during the various lifecycle stages of a spacecraft, from manufacturing through various stages of integration up to and including pre-launch checkout at the launch pad:

three at the North American Rockwell plant in Downey (California) where the Apollo CSM was built;
three at the Grumman plant in Bethpage (New York) where the Apollo LM was built;
two at JSC in Houston (Texas) where the spacecrafts underwent testing in simulated space and lunar environments;
two at the MSFC (Marshall Space Flight Center) in Huntsville (Alabama) and;
four at the KSC in the MSOB Checkout Wing, Florida for checkout during spacecraft integration in the MSOB, spacecraft - launch vehicle integration in the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) and pre-launch checkouts at the launch pad.

1.The control stations in the ACE Control Rooms

Floor plan of the dual Acceptance Checkout Equipment (ACE) Control Rooms.

Following the example of how the LCC Firing Room has been divided up into various areas, five areas can be distinguished in an ACE Control Room. In this page the ACE Control Room for the Apollo CSM is discussed:

Area A: Containing 5 consoles for the Spacecraft Test Conductor and the Test Project Engineer
Area B: Containing 9 consoles for system testing
Area C: Containing 16 consoles for system testing
Area D: Containing 25 stations for system testing
Each station in this area has two consoles, a top and a bottom console
Area E: Containing 5 instrument racks

The stations have been grouped in accordance with the CSM's 12 functional systems:

Environmental Control System
Fuel cell and Cryogenics System
Electrical Power System A
Electrical Power System B
Power and sequential
Guidance and Navigation System
Stabilization and Control System
Service Propulsion and Reaction Control System
Instrumentation System
Communication System
Aeromedical System
Thermo Structures Facilities

For the Lunar Modules (LM) the same 12 functional systems can be distinguished, except for the fact that the LM does not have fuel cells to generate electric power, it had batteries instead to provide the electrical power.

The spacecraft's systems and the test facilities have been organized in such a way that tests could be conducted on all those systems simultaneously and independently.

2a.The ACE Control Room for Apollo CSM checkout
The consoles in area A

The consoles in area A

The control panels for the test conductor and the test project engineer.

Photos of console panels are composed of photos of individual control panels copied from ref.5

2b.The ACE Control Room for Apollo CSM checkout
The consoles in area B

The consoles in area B

These consoles were used to conduct system tests on the spacecraft's aeromedical, instrumentation and communication systems.
The control panels which were used to initiate tests are marked in yellow. Each of those control panels contained four socalled R-START modules. The R-START modules will be discussed in section 4 in this page.

Photos of console panels are composed of photos of individual control panels copied from ref.5

2c.The ACE Control Room for Apollo CSM checkout
The consoles in area C

The consoles in area C

The control panels which were used to initiate tests are marked in yellow.

Photos of console panels are composed of photos of individual control panels copied from ref.5

2d.The ACE Control Room for Apollo CSM checkout
The consoles in area D

The consoles in area D

This area contained 25 stations for system testing. Each station had a top console leaning slightly forward and a bottom console in a upright position. The control panels which were used to initiate tests are marked in yellow.

Photos of console panels are composed of photos of individual control panels copied from ref.5

3.Block diagram of an ACE checkout chain

Diagram based on ref.5 figures 1-1, 1-2, 1-3 and 1-4 and descriptions in ref.6

In this block diagram is shown how a test could be initiated by sending a command or a sequence of commands to the uplink computer from the START modules. The responses were processed in part by the downlink computer.

START is an acronym for Select-To-Activate-Random-Testing and it is referring to the employed test methodology.

4.START modules
START: Select-To-Activate-Random-Testing

The three types of control panels to initiate tests or test sequences on the various spacecraft's systems.
Control panel with four R(Relay)-START modules. Each R-START module had four function buttons for entering a 4-digit binary function code. By pressing the "XEQ" (execute) button this 4-digit code was send to the command computer. This code could result in a simple action by the computer to flip a relay or could result in a sequence of test actions.	Control panel with one C(Computer)-START module. A C-START module had ten 12-position rotary switches. With each switch one out of 12 characters (0 through 9 and the "+" and "-" sign) could be selected . This C-START module was used to call up command computer test subroutines and to enter data as test parameters.
Control panel with one K(Key)-START module. The K-START control panel provided the means to enter and transmit digital commands to the spacecraft onboard Guidance and Navigation Computer via the ACE-S/C Command Computer. The commands and data could be entered via the keyboard or could be read from a paper tape.	Instrument panel with a K-START paper tape reader. This paper tape reader was used to enter commands and data into the K-START module.
Photos of the control panels are copied from ref.5

In conclusion
Review about the way source material has been used

Picture #01 Credit to NASA and to Jonathan Ward	Picture #02 Credit to NASA, General Electric and to Jonathan Ward	Picture #03 ACE-CSM Control Room in the MSOB Credit to NASA and to KSC Photo Archives
Picture #04 ACE-CSM Control Room in the MSOB Credit to Wikidata.org	Picture #05 ACE-LM Control Room in the MSOB Credit to NASA Scanning credit to Kipp Teague	Picture #06 ACE-LM Control Room in the MSOB Credit to NASA
Picture #07 ACE-LM Control Room in the MSOB Credit to NASA and to Didier Capdevila	Picture #08 ACE-LM Control Room in the MSOB Credit to NASA	Picture #09 ACE-LM Control Room at Grumman, Bethpage Credit to NASA
Picture #10 Credit to NASA, Rolf Lanzkron	Picture #11 Credit to NASA	Picture #12 Credit to General Electric
Picture #13 ACE-S/C Control Room at JSC in Houston, Building 32, in which the Space Environment Simulation Laboratory was housed (still is). There were two large chambers (A and B) in which spacecrafts underwent testing in simulated space conditions. The control room in this picture was linked to Chamber B. Credit to NASA and to Internet Archive
The pictures above have been used in conjunction with descriptions in various reports as information sources to infer a floor plan of the twin ACE-SC Control Rooms and a panel layout of the control consoles. The pictures 1, 2, 3 and 4 are drawings and pictures of the ACE-CSM Control Room. The pictures 5, 6, 7 and 8 are photos of the ACE-LM Control Room. The floor plans of those control rooms are almost identical. Therefore the picures of the ACE-LM Control Room have been used to draw conclusions about the panel layout of the consoles which were used to checkout the Service Propulsion and the Reaction Control System of the ACE-CSM Control Room. Not all station panels could be identified, in the pictures shown above many panels were obscured by stations in the foreground. These panels have been indicated with the comment "UNKNOWN" in the sections 2b, 2c and 2d. The sources 4 through 8 are providing information about how the ACE-SC Control Rooms have been used and are therefore providing context on the appearances of the various consoles and their panel layout. Consulted sources: Website: "Apollo Launch Control, An exploration of the Launch Control Center and Firing Room Equipment at Kennedy Space Center" http://apollolaunchcontrol.com by Jonathan Ward Countdown to a Moon Launch Preparing Apollo for Its Historic Journey by Jonathan Ward Springer, 2015 Website: "Capcom Espace, L'Encyclopédie de l'espace" http://www.capcomespace.net/ http://www.capcomespace.net/dossiers/espace_US/apollo/ksc/ZI/MSOB.htm by Didier Capdevila YouTube presentation by Anthony Vidaña about the ACE system at the North American Rockwell plant in Downey (California) where the Apollo CSM was built. ACE-S/C Operator's Manual Acceptance Checkout Equipment-Spacecraft General Electric, Apollo Support Department Daytona Beach, Florida, March 1966 Final Report Voyager Spacecraft. Phase D, Task D Volume IV, Book 2 of 5: Engineering Tasks: Applicability of Apollo Checkout Equipment Prepared by: General Electric For: George C. Marshall Space Flight Center October 16, 1967 "Checkout criteria and requirements for manned spacecraft" By Rolf W. Lanzkron and William C. Fischer Apollo Spacecraft Program Office NASA Manned Spacecraft Center Houston, Texas Paper presented at the "Support for Manned Flight Conference", April 1965 Apollo Experience Report Acceptance Checkout Equipment For The Apollo Spacecraft NASA Technical Note NASA TN D-6736 by I.J. Burtzlaff Manned Spacecraft Center Houston, Texas, March 1972

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