The Saturn V's Direction Problem
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Published 2023-02-25
Have you ever wondered about the guidance systems onboard rockets like the Saturn V that took the Apollo 11 astronauts to the moon? How about how these guidance systems influence their trajectory? In this video about the incredible alignment of the Saturn V, I’m going to take a deeper look at the Saturn 5’s guidance system, and show you how a hidden bunker below the launch pad helped to keep it pointing in the right direction.
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Short on time? Feel free to skip ahead in this video using the chapter links below.
00:00 Saturn V Guidance Problem
00:54 How Did Saturn V Navigate?
02:32 How a Gyroscope Guides a Rocket
04:11 Resetting the Saturn V Gyroscopes
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Written and edited by Ewan Cunningham (www.instagram.com/ewan_cee/)
Narrated by: Beau Stucki (www.beaustucki.com/)
Music used in this video:
Lights In The Abyss - Serge Pavkin Music
Pond Life - Jamie West-Oram
Go Down Swinging - NEFFEX
Lemon Drops ft. Jacquire King - Stephan Sharp
Nebula Light - Serge Pavkin Music
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#Nasa #SaturnV #Apollo11
All Comments (21)
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Did you guys know about the bunker below the pad? - shoutout to World of Tanks for making this video possible! Check it out here: tanks.ly/3Dfl3Id and use code TANKMANIA to get for free: 7 Days Premium Account, 250k credits, Premium Tank Excelsior (Tier 5), 3 rental tanks for 10 battles each: Tiger 131 (Tier 6), Cromwell B (Tier 6), and T34-85M (Tier 6)
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I was told that the missile always knows where it is because it knows where it isn't.
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It's absolutely incredible that the Saturn V went from paper design to flight in just six years. Such small but crucial details like this are mind-blowing
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The 3d animation in this one is absolutely on point! Great job!
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Crazy I can think of millions of things which can go wrong in such a delicate system, this stuff worked is a miracle on its own kudos to engineers and everyone who were involved in building this
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My Dad was part of the team that designed that gyro. He also had a patent to the gyro mounted on the lunar rover. I bragged to my sons one time that I had my fingerprints in space. I work in aerospace industry. He immediately replied, “I have my fingerprints on the moon.” Check mate. 😂
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in my opinion I think that the Saturn V / CSM/ LM were the best vehicles ever designed. All of their issues were solved so cleverly using 60s era technology. Really goes to show what a special team NASA had during the Apollo era.
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I am speechless. The Saturn V was so incredible piece of engineering. Imagine having this gyro mechanism on a rocket today - that's absolutely unthinkable 🤯
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Most people don't realize that the Saturn V was the epitome of human engineering at the time. The sheer number of innovations and breakthroughs, along with solving the engineering challenges involved makes it mind-boggling.
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I worked with navigational gyrocompasses for the Navy at one point. They used a similar 'followup' system to sense the minute changes in gyro torques and amplify them for the actual platform positioning. And during startup, used a simple 'ball level erector' system that relied on simply steel balls in a shallow bowl-like compartment to 'detect down' when first starting up.
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There was a soviet launch that was aborted before liftoff. About 30 minutes later the launch escape system activated itself and launched the capsule away from the rocket. It was later found that the internal gyros had read the rotation of the earth as the rocket flying off course and activated the LES
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As an engineering student myself, the visuals in this video are so helpful in conveying how the system works versus how it is described. Thank you so much for the amazing content!
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Love the animation and level of art in this video. Also that was the smoothest Segway to a sponsor spot. I almost believed they used a tank.
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Awesome video. Never heard about that before. I cannot imagine how much engineering, thought and work went into the Apollo program. Stunning
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It always amazes me how many of these kind of "quirks" engineers had to come up with to put boots on the moon for the first time.
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That tank insert was pretty funny
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... and it always worked. 15 launches. 15 successful launches.
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Really fun and details video. There where so many complex parts on the Saturn V, really impressive that they made this more than 50 years ago.
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This was the most sophisticated explanation ever given by you in this channel. I was so blown away that I grabbed my chair initially and prepared myself to boost my testosterone level at it's peak to make myself understand the complex engineering problems that needed to be solved in order to get a footprint on the moon. A BIG owe to you for making this video so easy to understand and fun to watch.
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The level of accuracy required to make this kind of system, with such tiny elements, work, is astonishing. Thinking that a problem so complex was solved using 3 prisms and light is unreal.
