As the project to reassemble an Apollo Command Module’s communication and electronics system from original equipment continues, the next peak to be scaled is the Central Timing Equipment: the box which generates and distributes all of the timing signals to the on-board electronics, from the time stamps for telemetry, the mission elapsed time clock on the control panel, to the signal sent to spacesuits to purge waste water. This box presents a particular challenge, since it is welded shut, and an industrial computed tomography scanner must come to the rescue to figure out what is going on inside.
Timing was mission-critical in Apollo—most of the functions of the unit were triply redundant, with a voting circuit to provide uninterrupted, correct signals in case of failure of internal components.