KISS-Lander

Land the Eagle. With Op-Amps.

July 20, 1969. Armstrong and Aldrin are descending toward the Sea of Tranquility. The guidance computer is throwing alarms. Fuel is running low. And somewhere in a basement, a teenager is building the same experience out of resistors, capacitors, and an old oscilloscope.

That teenager understood something we've mostly forgotten: computers don't have to be digital.

Analog Computing Is Back (Did It Ever Leave?)

Before everything became ones and zeros, engineers solved differential equations with voltage. No clock cycles. No software updates. Just physics, doing math in real time. KISS-Lander brings that experience to your bench — a fully functional analog computer that happens to also be a video game.

You're not simulating a lunar landing. You're computing one. The same way NASA's analog flight simulators did before digital took over.

What You're Actually Building

This isn't a weekend project with a pre-programmed microcontroller. KISS-Lander is the real deal:

• Operational amplifier circuits that solve the actual equations of motion
• Analog integration and multiplication — calculus in hardware
• Real-time physics simulation — gravity, thrust, fuel consumption
• X-Y oscilloscope output — your scope becomes the display, just like 1975

The kit assembles in testable sections. Each stage works on its own before you connect it to the next. Watch the math happen as you build — see a voltage become a position become a dot on screen that obeys Newton's laws.

You'll Need

• 🔧 Soldering iron & wire cutters — the basics
• 📺 Oscilloscope with X-Y mode — finally a use for that feature you never touch
• ⚡ Included: 120V power supply — no wall-wart scavenger hunt required

This Kit Bites Back

Let's be clear: KISS-Lander is not a beginner project. If KISS-Scope is your first oscilloscope, build that first. Get comfortable. Make some mistakes on forgiving circuits.

But if you've already got solder fumes in your DNA? If you've debugged a circuit by thinking instead of just swapping parts? If you genuinely want to understand why analog computers were once the only way to simulate reality fast enough to matter?

Welcome. You're going to love this.

Perfect For

• 🚀 Space History Nerds — experience what the Apollo-era hobbyists built
• 🎓 EE Students — op-amp theory, meet op-amp practice
• 🔬 Analog Enthusiasts — because not everything needs a microcontroller
• 👴 Nostalgic Engineers — remember when circuits computed?
• 🎮 The Curious — the most educational video game you'll ever build

The KISS Philosophy

Keep It Simple, Stupid — but simple doesn't mean easy. It means elegant. No hidden microcontrollers doing the real work. No software abstraction layers. Just you, some well-designed analog circuits, and the same physics that got us to the moon.

One small step for op-amps. One giant leap for your understanding.