The Instrument Unit is a ring shaped structure fitted to the top of the Saturn V third stage (S-IVB) and the Saturn IB second stage (S-IVB). It was immediately below the SLA panels that contain the Lunar Module. The Instrument Unit contains the guidance system for the Saturn V rocket. Some of the electronics contained within the Instrument Unit are a digital computer, analog flight control computer, emergency detection system , inertial guidance platform, control accelerometers and control rate gyros. NASA's subcontractor for the Instrument Unit was International Business Machines (IBM).
Instrument Unit Specifications
Diameter: 21.7 ft (6.6 m) Height: 3 ft (914 mm) Weight empty: 500 lb (227 kg) Weight assembled:4,400 lb (1996 kg)
The three-stage SaturnV was taller than a 36-storey building and the largest, most powerful rocket ever successfully launched (see N-1); fifteen of them were built.
In a typical SaturnV Apollo flight, the five F-1 first stage engines were ignited 6 sec before liftoff.
Although a two-stage version of the SaturnV was used to place Skylab in orbit, the rocket was effectively retired at the end of the Apollo program.
And the SaturnVinstrumentunit is an outgrowth of the one used on Saturn I. In these areas, maximum use of designs and facilities already available was incorporated to save time and costs.
SaturnV's second stage is powered by five J-2 engines that generate a total thrust of a million pounds.
Diameter of the instrumentunit is 21 feet and 8 inches, and height is 3 feet.
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