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Surveyor a Press Kit 66-127 May 26 1966

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Surveyor a Press Kit 66-127 May 26 1966 I NAIIONAL aeronautics and space administration rr. c;-' WA S H I N G T O N , D C . 2 0 ' i 4 6 ras"• - . ^ FOP. RELEASES THURSDAY P.M. May 26, 1966' RELEASE NO: 66-12? PROJECT: SURVEYOR A (To be launched no earlier than May 30, 1966) COr^ENTS GENERAL RELEASE ^-l-i SURVEYOR A SPACECRAFT 5-17 F r a m e , M e c h a n i s m s a n d T h e r m a l C o n t r o l 5 - 8 P o w e r S u b s y s t e m 8 - 1 0 T e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s — • l l r - 1 2 F l i g h t C o n t r o l S u b s y s t e m - 1 3 - 1 4 Television 15-l6 E n g i n e e r i n g I n s t r u m e n t a t i o n — I 6 - I 7 AT L A S - C E N TA U R ( A C - I O ) L A U N C H V E H I C L E 1 8 - 2 2 P r e - f l i g h t C h e c k o u t — — - — — — 2 0 - 2 1 C e n t a u r F l i g h t H i s t o r y — — 2 1 - 2 2 ATLAS-CENTAUR FACT SHEET 23 ' . ATLAS-CENTAUR FLIGHT SEQUENCE 24-. S U R V E Y O R F L I G H T P R O F I L E 2 5 • . S U R V E Y O R T R A J E C T O R I E S T O T H E M O O N 2 6 . • TRACKING AND COMUNICATION— TRAJECTORY 28-32 SURVEYOR A FLIGHT MISSION- 32-40 A t l a s P h a s e 3 2 . C e n t a u r P h a s e 3 2 - 3 3 I n i t i a l S u r v e y o r P h a s e 3 3 ' - 3 4 C a n o p u s A c q u i s i t i o n 3 4 r 3 5 M i d c o u r s e M a n e u v e r 3 5 - 3 7 Terminal Sequence 37-39 P o s t - l a n d i n g E v e n t s 3 9 - 4 o A T L A S - C E N T A U R A N D S U R V E Y O R T E A M S - 4 1 - 4 2 M A J O R S U B C O N T R A C T O R S 4 3 - 4 7 CHARACTERISTIC AC-10 LUNAR INJECTION PARAMETERS (Fold ou -more- ?• A\r5&/rti national aeronautics and space administration wo 2-41 55 E W S WASHINGTON, D.C 20546 • WQ 3-6925 /X,. FOR RELEASE! THURSDAY P.M, MAY 26, 1966 RELEASE NO; 66-12? FIRST SURVEYOR TEST iyHSSION SET FOR MAY 30 T h e U n i t e d S t a t e s i s p r e p a r i n g t o l a u n c h t h e fi r s t e n g i n e e r i n g t e s t fl i g h t i n a s e r i e s o f S u r v e y o r m i s s i o n s designed to achieve a soft-landing on the Moon. The first spacecraft — Surveyor A — is scheduled for launch by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration from Cape Kennedy no earlier than May 30. The launch vehicle will be the Atlas-Centaur (AC-IO) w h i c h w i l l b e m a k i n g i t s fi r s t o p e r a t i o n a l fl i g h t . From launch to touchdown on the lunar surface, the fl i g h t i s e x p e c t e d t o t a k e 6 l t o 6 5 h o u r s . JLater spacecraft in the Surveyor series will have the,. m i s s i o n o b j e c t i v e s o f g a t h e r i n g l u n a r s u r f a c e i n f o r m a t i o n needed for the Apollo manned lunar landing program. -more- 5/20/66 - 2 - Primary objectives of Surveyor As - demonstrate the capability of the Atlas-Centaur 10, . l a u n c h v e h i c l e t o i n j e c t t h e S u r v e y o r s p a c e c r a f t s u c e s s f u l l y o n a l u n a r - i n t e r c e p t t r a j e c t o r y ^ - demonstrate the capability of the Surveyor spacecraft to perform successful midcourse and terminal maneuvers, and a soft landing on the Moon, and demonstrate the capability of the Surveyor communications system and the Deep Space Network to maintain communi cations with the spacecraft during its flight and"after the soft landing. ••• Surveyor will carry a single scanning television camera which is designed to photograph the Moon's surface and the crushable pads on-two of the landing legs to determine how. deeply the pads have penetrated the lunar surface. A successful mission will prove the concept of a space craft capable of automatically decelerating from 6,000 miles per hour to a touchdown speed of about three and one-half ' miles per hour and functioning in the intense heat of the ' ; l u n a r d a y. To accomplish the critical terminal descent and soft • landing. Surveyor is equipped with a solid propellant retro- rocket and three throttleable liquid fuel vernier engines, a flight programmer and analog computer, and radars to ^ determine altitude and rate of descent. -more- - 3 - The main braking force is provided by the main retro.'' After it is jettisoned, data from the radars are processed by the computer to throttle the verniers automatically so that Surveyor achieves a soft landing. At launch Surveyor will weigh 2,194 pounds. The retrd motor, which will be Jettisoned after burnout, weighs 1,377 pounds. After expenditure of liquid propellants and use of • attitude control gas, the landed weight of Surveyor on the.- Moon will be about 620 pounds. More than 250 ground commands will be required to control Surveyor during flight and after a successful landing on ^ the Moon. About 300 persons will be involved in flight control a t p e a k t i m e s i n t h e m i s s i o n . The Surveyor program is directed'by NASA's Office of Space Science and Applications, Project management is assigned to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory operated by the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. Hughes Aircraft Co., under contract to JPL, designed and built the- Surveyor space craft. NASA's Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, is responsible for the Atlas first stage booster and for the second stage ' Centaur, both developed by General Dynamics/Convair, San Diego, Calif. -more- - 4 - Tracking and communication with the Suj?veyor is the responsibility of the NASA/JPL Deep Space Network (DSN). The stations assigned to the Surveyor program are Pioneer,• at Goldstone in California's Mojave Desert; Johannesburg, South Africa; and Tidbinbilla, Australia. Data from the •• stations. Will, be. transmi to JPL^s,.Space Flight Operations Facility in Pasadena, the command center for the mission. (END OP GE^RAL RELEASE; BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOLLOWS) -raore- o F r a m e , M e c h a n i s m s a n d T h e r m a l C o n t r o l The triangular aluminium frame of the Surveyor provides mounting surfaces and attachments for the landing gear^, 'main retrorocket, vernier engines and associated tanksj, thermal c o m p a r t m e n t s , a n t e n n a s a n d o t h e r e l e c t r o n i c a n d m e c h a n i c a l assemblies. ; It is constructed of thin-wall alumin-um tubing, with the members interconnected to form the triangle. A mast, which supports the planar array antenna (high-gain) and single solar panel, is attached to the top of the frame. The basic fipame weighs less than 60 pounds and installation hardware weighs 23 pounds. The Surveyor stands about 10 feet high and, with its tri p o d l a n d i n g ' g e a r e x t e n d e d , c a n b e p l a c e d w i t h i n a l 4 - f o o t c i r c l e .
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