DOCSLIB.ORG

Lunar Module Abort Guidance System

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Lunar Module Abort Guidance System NASA TECHNICAL NOTE NASA TN D-7990 0 o* z c 4 m 4 z CASE FILE COPY APOLLO EXPERIENCE REPORT - GUIDANCE AND CONTROL SYSTEMS: LUNAR MODULE ABORT GUIDANCE SYSTEM Put Me Kzlrten Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center Houston, Texas 77058 NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION WASHINGTON, D. C. JULY 1975 1. Report No. I 2. Government Accession No. I 3. Recipient's Cataloq No. NASA TN D-7990 4. Title and Subtitle 5. Report Date APOLLO EXPERIENCE REPORT July 1975 GUIDANCE AND CONTROL SYSTEMS: 6. Performing Organization Code LUNAR MODULE ABORT GUIDANCE SYSTEM JSC- 08589 7. Author(s) 8. Performing Organization Report No. Pat M. Kurten JSC S-424 10. Work Unit No. 9. Performing Organization Name and Address 9 76- 10-4 1-0 1- 72 Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center 11. Contract or Grant No. Houston, Texas 77058 13. Type of Report and Period Covered 2. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address Technical Note National Aeronautics and Space Administration 14. Sponsoring Agency Code Washington, D. C. 20546 1 5. Supplementary Notes The history of a unique development program that produced an operational fixed guidance system of inertial quality is presented in this report. Each phase of development, beginning with requirement definition and concluding with qualification and testing, is addressed, and develop- mental problems are emphasized. Software generation and mission operations are described, and specifications for the inertial reference unit are included, as are flight performance results. Significant program observations are noted. 7. Key Words (Suggerted by Author(s)) 18. Distribution Statement - Display Devices .Monte Carlo Method STAR Subject Category: - Hardware - Software (Computers) 12 (Astronautics, General) Mission Trajectory t Lunar Landing - Short Circuit Accelerometers ^. u; n..__ 19. Security Classif. (of this report) ZU. Security Ciassii. ioi this pagei 41. 22. Price' Unclassified Unclassified 73 $4.25 CONTENTS Section Page SUMMARY ..................................... 1 INTRODUCTION .................................. 1 ACRONYMS .................................... 2 DISCUSSION .................................... 4 Preliminary LM Abort Concepts ........................ 4 Program Redefinition .............................. 6 System De scr iption ............................... 7 Test Program .................................. 14 Software Development ............................. 19 Abort Guidance System Mission Revisions ................... 25 Mission Operation ............................... 26 Abort Sensor Assembly Development Problems ................ 28 Abort Electronics Assembly Development Problems ............. 35 Data Entry and Display Assembly Development Problems .......... 40 Abort Guidance System Software Development Problems ........... 42 Capability Estimate ............................... 45 Flight Performance and Anomalies ...................... 50 PROGRAM OBSERVATIONS ........................... 58 Schedule ..................................... 58 Thermal-Vacuum Acceptance ......................... 59 Compatibility Testing .............................. 59 Dual Source Procurement ........................... 59 A sst: iilbiy Eeiia’uiXy .............................. 55 iii . Section Page Transient Protection .............................. 59 Software Development ............................. 60 Memory Functions ............................... 60 Scale .Factor Asymmetry ............................ 60 Electroluminescent Display .......................... 60 Pushbuttons ................................... 60 Pushbutton Switches .............................. 60 Environmental Testing ............................. 61 Ground-Support -Equipment Heaters ...................... 61 Abort Sensor Assembly Mission Acceptance .................. 61 Abort Sensor Assembly ............................. 61 Gyro Fluid ................................... 61 Gyro Resonant Frequency ........................... 62 Engineering Mode 1 ............................... 62 Assembly Cabling ................................ 62 Vibration Transmissibility ........................... 62 Split-Pin Wire Wrapping ............................ 62 Program Incentives ............................... 62 Capability Retention .............................. 62 Subcontractor Test Participation ........................ 63 Program Control ................................ 63 Earth-Orbit Software Programs ........................ 63 Test Programs ................................. 63 Mission Performance Analysis ......................... 63 Gyro Rundown Time ............................... 64 iv Section Page Program Evaluation Reporting Technique ................... 64 Inertial Package Alinement ........................... 64 Backup Guidance Definition ........................... 64 Nailhead Bond Capacitors ............................ 64 Flight Connector Integrity ............................ 65 Work Packages ................................. 65 Elapsed-Time Indicators and "G" Balls .................... 65 Checkout Meetings ............................... 65 Computer Startup Sequence ........................... 65 Operator Error Lights ............................. 66 CONCLUDINGREMARKS .............................. 66 V TABLES Table Page I ABORT SENSOR ASSEMBLY SPECIFICATION VALUES ......... 10 I1 ABORT SENSOR ASSEMBLY TIME-STABILITY LIMITS * * * 11 III ABORT SENSOR ASSEMBLY REPEATABILITY LIMITS ......... 12 IV EARTH PRELAUNCH CALIBRATION TIME-STABILITY LIMITS .... 13 V DESIGN VERIFICATION TESTING ENVIRONMENTS FORTHEAGS.. ............................ 15 VI ACCEPTANCE TESTS PERFORMED ON THE AGS ........... 18 VI1 ABORT GUIDANCE SYSTEM ERROR MODEL I CAPABILITY ESTIMATE ........................ 46 VIII ABORT GUIDANCE SYSTEM ERROR MODEL I1 CAPABILITY ESTIMATE ........................ 47 M ABORT GUIDANCE SYSTEM ERROR MODEL III CAPABILITY ESTIMATE ........................ 48 X ABORT GUIDANCE SYSTEM ERROR MODEL IV CAPABILITY ESTIMATE ........................ 49 XI FINAL PIC, FINAL EPC, AND IFC DATA OF THE AGS ........ 50 XI1 IN-FLIGHT DETERMINATION OF GYRO AND ACCELEROMETER BIAS IN FREE FLIGHT ......................... 51 XI11 ALINEMENT ACCURACIES OF THE PGNCS DURING THE APOLLO 9 MISSION. .......................... 51 XIV A COMPARISON OF THE VG MAGNITUDES FOR ALL BURNS .... 52 XV A COMPARISON OF THE RENDEZVOUS MANEUVER VELOCITIES AS COMPUTED BY THE AGS AND THE GROUND ........... 52 XVI ALINEMENT ACCURACIES OF THE PGNCS DURING THE APOLLO 10 MISSION .......................... 53 XVII GYRO AND ACCELEROMETER CALIBRATIONS ............ 54 XVIII A COMPARISON OF AGS AND PGNCS BURN RESIDUALS ........ 54 I vi Table Page XIX ALINEMENT ACCURACIES OF THE PGNCS DURING THE APOLLO 11 MISSION .......................... 55 XX GYRO-DRIFT PERFORMANCE DATA .................. 56 XXI ACCELEROMETER BIAS IN FREE FLIGHT ............... 57 XXII A COMPARISON OF BURN RESIDUALS ................. 58 FIGURES Figure Page 1 Abort guidance system components (a) Data entry and display assembly .................. 7 (b) Abort sensor assembly ....................... 7 (c) Abort electronics assembly ..................... 7 2 Abort sensor assembly asymmetry requirements ........... 11 3 Coelliptic rendezvous flight profile ................... 26 4 Gyro bias history ............................ 56 5 Accelerometer bias history ....................... 57 vii APOLLO EXPERIENCE REPORT GU I DANCE AND CONTROL SYSTEMS: LUNAR MODULE ABORT GUIDANCE SYSTEM By Pat M. Kurten Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center SUMMARY With respect to the lunar module abort guidance system, the Apollo Program experience included the full range of program development from requirements through design, development, and production and culminated with successful flight. As a result of preliminary lunar-abort concepts, a strapped-down inertial-sensor package for attitude reference and an open-loop programer were selected to provide ascent steering for lunar-orbit insertion. A clear pericynthion orbit could be obtained by postinsertion burns, and rendezvous was to be accomplished by means of external information. A program redefinition in 1964 added the requirement for a clear peri- cynthion orbit from the initial abort burn and the requirement for a rendezvous within the lunar module fuel budget without information from sources outside the lunar module. The required accuracy of the strapped-down package was therefore increased, and a general-purpose digital computer containing 4096 words of memory replaced the open-loop programer. A display and keyboard device was added for crew communica- tions with the computer. INTRODUCTION The lunar module (LM) abort guidance system (AGS) represents the first opera- tional usage of a strapped-down guidance system. The AGS was designed and developed specifically for application in the Apollo LM. The AGS is composed of a strapped-down (or fixed) inertial-sensor package, the abort sensor assembly (ASA); a general-purpose digital computer with specialized input/output, the abort electronics assembly (AEA); and a display and keyboard device for crew communication with the computer, the data entry and display assembly (DEDA). The AGS forms the digital portion of a hybrid digital/analog guidance and control system and is configured to provide automatic con- trol for mission abort resulting from a primary guidance system (PGS) malfunction. The AGS was supplied by the LM prime contractor under NASA cognizance at the NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) (formerly the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC)). The E~C~PII?respnnsihilit-y
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Conceptual Human-System Interface Design for a Lunar Access Vehicle
    Conceptual Human-System Interface Design for a Lunar Access Vehicle Mary Cummings Enlie Wang Cristin Smith Jessica Marquez Mark Duppen Stephane Essama Massachusetts Institute of Technology* Prepared For Draper Labs Award #: SC001-018 PI: Dava Newman HAL2005-04 September, 2005 http://halab.mit.edu e-mail: [email protected] *MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Cambridge, MA 02139 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................... 1 1.1 THE GENERAL FRAMEWORK................................................................................ 1 1.2 ORGANIZATION.................................................................................................... 2 2 H-SI BACKGROUND AND MOTIVATION ........................................................ 3 2.1 APOLLO VS. LAV H-SI........................................................................................ 3 2.2 APOLLO VS. LUNAR ACCESS REQUIREMENTS ...................................................... 4 3 THE LAV CONCEPTUAL PROTOTYPE............................................................ 5 3.1 HS-I DESIGN ASSUMPTIONS ................................................................................ 5 3.2 THE CONCEPTUAL PROTOTYPE ............................................................................ 6 3.3 LANDING ZONE (LZ) DISPLAY............................................................................. 8 3.3.1 LZ Display Introduction.................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Martian Ice How One Neutrino Changed Astrophysics Remembering Two Former League Presidents
    Published by the Astronomical League Vol. 71, No. 3 June 2019 MARTIAN ICE HOW ONE NEUTRINO 7.20.69 CHANGED ASTROPHYSICS 5YEARS REMEMBERING TWO APOLLO 11 FORMER LEAGUE PRESIDENTS ONOMY T STR O T A H G E N P I E G O Contents N P I L R E B 4 . President’s Corner ASTRONOMY DAY Join a Tour This Year! 4 . All Things Astronomical 6 . Full Steam Ahead OCTOBER 5, From 37,000 feet above the Pacific Total Eclipse Flight: Chile 7 . Night Sky Network 2019 Ocean, you’ll be high above any clouds, July 2, 2019 For a FREE 76-page Astronomy seeing up to 3¼ minutes of totality in a PAGE 4 9 . Wanderers in the Neighborhood dark sky that makes the Sun’s corona look Day Handbook full of ideas and incredibly dramatic. Our flight will de- 10 . Deep Sky Objects suggestions, go to: part from and return to Santiago, Chile. skyandtelescope.com/2019eclipseflight www.astroleague.org Click 12 . International Dark-Sky Association on "Astronomy Day” Scroll 14 . Fire & Ice: How One Neutrino down to "Free Astronomy Day African Stargazing Safari Join astronomer Stephen James ̃̃̃Changed a Field Handbook" O’Meara in wildlife-rich Botswana July 29–August 4, 2019 for evening stargazing and daytime PAGE 14 18 . Remembering Two Former For more information, contact: safari drives at three luxury field ̃̃̃Astronomical League Presidents Gary Tomlinson camps. Only 16 spaces available! Astronomy Day Coordinator Optional extension to Victoria Falls. 21 . Coming Events [email protected] skyandtelescope.com/botswana2019 22 . Gallery—Moon Shots 25 . Observing Awards Iceland Aurorae September 26–October 2, 2019 26 .
    [Show full text]
  • Project Apollo: Americans to the Moon 440 Document II-1 Document Title
    440 Project Apollo: Americans to the Moon Document II-1 Document Title: NASA, “ Minutes of Meeting of Research Steering Committee on Manned Space Flight,” 25–26 May 1959. Source: Folder 18675, NASA Historical Reference Collection, History Division, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC. Within less than a year after its creation, NASA began looking at follow-on programs to Project Mercury, the initial human spacefl ight effort. A Research Steering Committee on Manned Space Flight was created in spring 1959; it consisted of top-level representatives of all of the NASA fi eld centers and NASA Headquarters. Harry J. Goett from Ames, but soon to be head of the newly created Goddard Space Flight Center, was named chair of the committee. The fi rst meeting of the committee took place on 25 and 26 May 1959, in Washington. Those in attendance provided an overview of research and thinking related to human spacefl ight at various NASA centers, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and the High Speed Flight Station (HSFS) at Edwards Air Force Base. George Low, then in charge of human spacefl ight at NASA Headquarters, argued for making a lunar landing NASA’s long-term goal. He was backed up by engineer and designer Maxime Faget of the Space Task Group of the Langley Research Center and Bruce Lundin of the Lewis Research Center. After further discussion at its June meeting, the Committee agreed on the lunar landing objective, and by the end of the year a lunar landing was incorporated into NASA’s 10-year plan as the long-range objective of the agency’s human spacefl ight program.
    [Show full text]
  • NASA and Planetary Exploration
    **EU5 Chap 2(263-300) 2/20/03 1:16 PM Page 263 Chapter Two NASA and Planetary Exploration by Amy Paige Snyder Prelude to NASA’s Planetary Exploration Program Four and a half billion years ago, a rotating cloud of gaseous and dusty material on the fringes of the Milky Way galaxy flattened into a disk, forming a star from the inner- most matter. Collisions among dust particles orbiting the newly-formed star, which humans call the Sun, formed kilometer-sized bodies called planetesimals which in turn aggregated to form the present-day planets.1 On the third planet from the Sun, several billions of years of evolution gave rise to a species of living beings equipped with the intel- lectual capacity to speculate about the nature of the heavens above them. Long before the era of interplanetary travel using robotic spacecraft, Greeks observing the night skies with their eyes alone noticed that five objects above failed to move with the other pinpoints of light, and thus named them planets, for “wan- derers.”2 For the next six thousand years, humans living in regions of the Mediterranean and Europe strove to make sense of the physical characteristics of the enigmatic planets.3 Building on the work of the Babylonians, Chaldeans, and Hellenistic Greeks who had developed mathematical methods to predict planetary motion, Claudius Ptolemy of Alexandria put forth a theory in the second century A.D. that the planets moved in small circles, or epicycles, around a larger circle centered on Earth.4 Only partially explaining the planets’ motions, this theory dominated until Nicolaus Copernicus of present-day Poland became dissatisfied with the inadequacies of epicycle theory in the mid-sixteenth century; a more logical explanation of the observed motions, he found, was to consider the Sun the pivot of planetary orbits.5 1.
    [Show full text]
  • The Ranger Telerobotic Shuttle Experiment: an On-Orbit Satellite Servicer
    THE RANGER TELEROBOTIC SHUTTLE EXPERIMENT: AN ON-ORBIT SATELLITE SERVICER Joseph C. Parrish NASA Headquarters Office of Space Science, Advanced Technologies & Mission Studies Division Mail Code SM, Washington, DC, 20546-0001, U.S.A. phone: +1 301 405 0291, fax: +1 209 391 9785, e-mail: [email protected] Abstract 1 Introduction As space operations enter the 21st century, the role The Ranger Telerobotic Shuttle Experiment (RTSX) of robotic satellite servicing systems will increase dra- is a Space Shuttle-based flight experiment to demon- matically. Several such systems are currently in de- strate key telerobotic technologies for servicing as- velopment for use on the International Space Sta- sets in Earth orbit. The flight system will be tele- tion, including the Canadian Mobile Servicing Sys- operated from onboard the Space Shuttle and from a tem (MSS)[2] and the Japanese Experiment Module ground control station at the NASA Johnson Space Remote Manipulator System (JEM-RMS). Another Center. The robot, along with supporting equipment Japanese system, the Experimental Test System VII and task elements, will be located in the Shuttle pay- (ETS-VII) [I],has already demonstrated the ability for load bay. A number of relevant servicing operations rendezvous and docking, followed by ORU manipula- will be performed-including extravehicular activity tion under supervisory control. Under development by (EVA) worksite setup, orbit replaceable unit (ORU) the United States, the Ranger Telerobotic Shuttle Ex- exchange, and other dexterous tasks. The program periment (RTSX)[3] is progressing toward its mission is underway toward an anticipated launch date in on the NASA Space Shuttle to demonstrate telerobotic CY2001, and the hardware and software for the flight servicing of orbital assets.
    [Show full text]
  • Assessing & Protecting Dark Night Skies in El Morro National Monument
    ASSESSING & PROTECTING DARK NIGHT SKIES IN EL MORRO NATIONAL MONUMENT by Leslie Kobinsky October 1st, 2019 A capstone report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF NATURAL RESOURCES and NREE Certificate Program Committee Members: Mark Brunson, Chair Mark Larese-Casanova Melanie Conrad UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY Logan, UT 2019 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................................................. 3 LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................................... 3 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................ 4 Problem Statement.................................................................................................................................... 4 Audience ................................................................................................................................................... 5 Background Information........................................................................................................................... 5 Project Goals and Objectives.................................................................................................................... 5 METHOD OF ANALYSIS AND DESCRIPTION OF STUDY SITE........................................................ 6
    [Show full text]
  • Locations of Anthropogenic Sites on the Moon R
    Locations of Anthropogenic Sites on the Moon R. V. Wagner1, M. S. Robinson1, E. J. Speyerer1, and J. B. Plescia2 1Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera, School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-3603; [email protected] 2The Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20723 Abstract #2259 Introduction Methods and Accuracy Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Narrow Angle Camera To get the location of each object, we recorded its line and sample in (NAC) images, with resolutions from 0.25-1.5 m/pixel, allow the each image it appears in, and then used USGS ISIS routines to extract identifcation of historical and present-day landers and spacecraft impact latitude and longitude for each point. The true position is calculated to be sites. Repeat observations, along with recent improvements to the the average of the positions from individual images, excluding any extreme spacecraft position model [1] and the camera pointing model [2], allow the outliers. This process used Spacecraft Position Kernels improved by LOLA precise determination of coordinates for those sites. Accurate knowledge of cross-over analysis and the GRAIL gravity model, with an uncertainty of the coordinates of spacecraft and spacecraft impact craters is critical for ±10 meters [1], and a temperature-corrected camera pointing model [2]. placing scientifc and engineering observations into their proper geologic At sites with a retrorefector in the same image as other objects (Apollo and geophysical context as well as completing the historic record of past 11, 14, and 15; Luna 17), we can improve the accuracy signifcantly. Since trips to the Moon.
    [Show full text]
  • Robotic and Human Lunar Missions Past and Future
    VOL. 96 NO. 5 15 MAR 2015 Earth & Space Science News Robotic and Human Lunar Missions Past and Future Increasing Diversity in the Geosciences Do Tiny Mineral Grains Drive Plate Tectonics? Cover Lines Ways To Improve AGU FellowsCover Program Lines Cover Lines Recognize The Exceptional Scientific Contributions And Achievements Of Your Colleagues Union Awards • Prizes • Fellows • Medals Awards Prizes Ambassador Award Climate Communication Prize Edward A. Flinn III Award NEW The Asahiko Taira International Charles S. Falkenberg Award Scientific Ocean Drilling Research Prize Athlestan Spilhaus Award Medals International Award William Bowie Medal Excellence in Geophysical Education Award James B. Macelwane Medal Science for Solutions Award John Adam Fleming Medal Robert C. Cowen Award for Sustained Achievement in Maurice Ewing Medal Science Journalism Robert E. Horton Medal Walter Sullivan Award for Excellence Harry H. Hess Medal in Science Journalism – Features Inge Lehmann Medal David Perlman Award for Excellence in Science Journalism – News Roger Revelle Medal Fellows Scientific eminence in the Earth and space sciences through achievements in research, as demonstrated by one or more of the following: breakthrough or discovery; innovation in disciplinary science, cross-disciplinary science, instrument development, or methods development; or sustained scientific impact. Nominations Deadline: 15 March honors.agu.org Earth & Space Science News Contents 15 MARCH 2015 FEATURE VOLUME 96, ISSUE 5 13 Increasing Diversity in the Geosciences Studies show that increasing students’ “sense of belonging” may help retain underrepresented minorities in geoscience fields. A few programs highlight successes. MEETING REPORT Developing Databases 7 of Ancient Sea Level and Ice Sheet Extents RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT 8 COVER 26 How Robotic Probes Helped Humans Survival of Young Sardines Explore the Moon…and May Again Flushed Out to Open Ocean Despite favorable conditions within eddies Robotic probes paved the way for humankind’s giant leap to the Moon.
    [Show full text]
  • Making It Work
    The Journal of the Association of National Park Rangers RangerStewards for parks, visitors & each other Vol. 30, No. 3 | Summer 2014 Making It Work RANGER • Summer 2014 u Sec1a Share your views! Do you have a comment on a particular topic featured in this issue? Or about anything related to national parks or ANPR business? Send your Board of Directors [email protected] Officers views to or to the address on President Erika Jostad, SEKI the back cover. Secretary Colleen Derber, WASO Treasurer Paula Alexander, LIBO Immediate Past President Stacy Allen, SHIL Logo design courtesy of Alex Eddy Memorial Day reflections Every year Antietam National Battlefield hosts Plan to join your the Memorial Illumination: 23,000 lights Board Members Education & Training Ben Walsh, NAMA on the battlefield for each one of the 23,000 Fundraising Activities Seth Tinkham, WASO ANPR colleagues for killed, captured or wounded on that fateful Internal Communications Jeremy Kaufman, NAMA countryside during the battle. Points of light Membership Services Gannon Frain the annual Rendezvous Professional Issues Ken Bigley, BIBE illuminate the little church for every man Seasonal Perspectives Lauren Kopplin, GLAC More details on page 17 of this who fell as the fighting raged. An eerie glow Special Concerns Wendy Lauritzen, TAPR brightens the sunken road where even more Strategic Planning Alison Steiner, SEKI issue and at www.anpr.org were cut down. An old stone bridge is wreathed in light marking soldiers’ last moments on Task Groups earth. But if a candle is lit every place where International Affairs Blanca Stransky, PEVI an American fell for freedom, from the roaring World Ranger Congress Bob Krumenaker, APIS USNPS Association of National Park Rangers | 1 seashore of Iwo Jima to the peaceful depths of the Ardennes, an otherworldly glow would Staff commemorate liberty worldwide.
    [Show full text]
  • Spaceport News John F
    Sept. 2, 2011 Vol. 51, No. 16 Spaceport News John F. Kennedy Space Center - America’s gateway to the universe Twin GRAIL spacecraft to map the moon’s gravity By Anna Heiney “GRAIL is a mission on New Year’s Eve of distance changes.” Spaceport News that will study the in- 2011; GRAIL-B will The GRAIL mis- side of the moon from follow on New Year’s sion also marks the umans have crust to core,” Zuber Day of 2012. first time students have studied the said. Each spacecraft will a dedicated camera Hmoon for The mission is set execute a 38-minute on board a planetary hundreds of years -- to depart from Space lunar orbit insertion spacecraft. The digital first with telescopes, Launch Complex 17B burn to slip into lunar video imaging system, then with robotic at Cape Canaveral orbit, then spend the called MoonKAM, will probes, even sending Air Force Station in next five weeks reduc- offer middle-school 12 American astronauts Florida on Sept. 8 at ing their orbit period. students the chance to to the lunar surface. 8:37 a.m. Prelaunch Finally, the twin orbit- request photography But many mysteries processing -- and the ers will be maneuvered of lunar targets for remain. final countdown -- are into formation, kicking classroom study. The The Gravity Re- managed by NASA’s off the mission’s three- project is headed by covery and Interior Launch Services Pro- month science phase. Dr. Sally Ride, the first Laboratory mission, or gram (LSP) at nearby During the next 82 American woman to GRAIL, features twin Kennedy Space Center.
    [Show full text]
  • Robotic and Human Lunar Missions Past and Future
    VOL. 96 NO. 5 15 MAR 2015 Earth & Space Science News Robotic and Human Lunar Missions Past and Future Increasing Diversity in the Geosciences Do Tiny Mineral Grains Drive Plate Tectonics? Cover Lines Ways To Improve AGU FellowsCover Program Lines Cover Lines How Robotic Probes Helped Humans Explore the Moon... and May Again Robotic probes paved the way for humankind’s giant leap to the Moon. Now they could help us return and reveal the origins of the solar system. 8 // Eos 15 March 2015 How Robotic Probes Helped ifty years ago, on 17 February 1965, NASA launched the Ranger VIII robotic spacecraft toward the Moon. Three days later, the vehicle provided the world’s first high- resolution glimpse of what would become Tranquility Base—the land- ing site of Apollo 11, where humans first stepped onto Humans Explore the Moon... another planetary surface. Together, the Ranger VIII results and subsequent Apollo 11 mission Fillustrate the tremendous value of an integrated robotic and human space exploration program. Uncrewed craft snapped pictures for mis- and May Again sion planning and tested landing technologies. However, only Apollo’s By David A. Kring human crews could perform the intensive field work that paved the way for that era’s scientific legacy. These lessons may help guide the international scientific community as it considers future plans for lunar exploration. They point the way to a new series of lunar missions in which robotic spacecraft and humans could work together to solve the most pressing mysteries surrounding our solar system’s formation. Beginning with Impact The U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • The Surveyorprogram
    ..... _° o0ooooo _ https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19770025235 2018-04-11T18:05:23+00:00Z .4;" ' F 00000001-TSA03 ORIGINAL PAGE IS OF POOR QUALIo/,y I 1 i 4 , I i IIII '1 ', !, 00000001-TSA04 i._ ,) I l L 1 I t i I / WDC-A-R 77.02 .. National Space Science Dora Center/ World Om Center A For Rockets end Satellites Catalog of Lunar - Mission ;. Data ' ': TechnicalCoordinator - WINIFRED SAWTELL CAMERON Editors ELLEN J. MANTEL • ELIZABETH ,_, MILLER July 1977 i-- 00000001-TSA05 / PREFACE i, We acknowledge with thanks those persons, too numerous to name, of the National Space Science D_ta Center (NSSDC) who have contributed to the production of this Ca_log. Appreciation of the contributions of the experimenters is also hereby acknowledged. _,eir data submission and explanatory documentation form the base o£ this Catalog. _e NSSDC per- ... r sonnel activity included data and information handling, verification, ! data description, inventory, illustrations, and photography, as well as : document production, and involved both the acquisition scientists and ! the Data Center's onsite contractor, General Telephone and Electronics/ ' Information Systems, PMI Facilities Management Corporation personnel. _: The Data Center strives to serve the scientific community in a useful = L manner so that the scientific data deposited there can be disseminated _: for continued and further analysis. Scientists are invited to submit : comments or recommendations regarding the format of this Catalog, the .: data announced herein, and the services provided by NSSDC. Recipients ., are urged to inform other potential data users of its availability. _t i ._ IVinifredSawtell Cameron _i Elizabeth R.
    [Show full text]