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Spinoff story
Fly-by-Wire Systems Enable Safer, More Efficient Flight
A real-world story of NASA technology finding a life beyond the mission.
About this technology
Overview
Using the ultra-reliable Apollo Guidance Computer that enabled the Apollo Moon missions, Dryden Flight Research Center engineers, in partnership with industry leaders such as Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Draper Laboratory, demonstrated that digital computers could be used to fly aircraft. Digital fly-by-wire systems have since been incorporated into large airliners, military jets, revolutionary new aircraft, and even cars and submarines.