Vacuum Tube IC?

[ffutures]

I have a vague idea that for some of their space probes, possibly the Venera series, the Russians used something I'd describe as a vacuum tube IC, with dozens of small tubes built into an outer container which was evacuated as one unit, so that they didn't have the problems of keeping dozens of tiny tubes intact during the flight. Can anyone confirm this?

Comments

[raygungothic.livejournal.com]

Hmm, sounds familiar but I am having trouble tracking it down. Will let you know if I find anything.

Composite tubes were first developed in the 1920s
http://www.electricstuff.co.uk/loewe.html

and were pretty sophisticated by the 1960s
http://www.junkbox.com/electronics/CompactronTubesIndex.shtml
- and these designs were about saving power and space, which is surely even more important in a probe, so I would be surprised if they *didn't* use something like this.

I'm not sure how much robustness would benefit, though, as it's harder to support tiny delicate things inside a tube than it is out. However, I suppose it's only one compact item to fit inside a vibration damper or whatever it was they needed to stop all those heaters and grids shaking to bits.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Thanks - that was the sort of thing I was looking for - if you find something even more sophisticated that would be very good.