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NF-35/VO L. IV , NO . 6
On
Surveyor
On May 30, 1966, Surveyor I climbed away from miles of its target in the Ocean of Storms close to
Cape Kennedy, Flori da , aboard an Atlas-Centaur the lunar equator.
rocket . On June 2 , 1966, sixty-three hours and During the six weeks following Surveyor's land -
thirty- six minutes later, after traveling almost a ing-while the sun set , rose again 14 earth days
quarter of a million miles, it landed within nine later and set a second time on Surveyor's landing
Exact counterpart of the Su rveyor I spacecraft w hic h made ex cept for t he surface sampler (see inset) fastened to a
the first U.S. " soft landing" on the moon J une I , 1966. metal extendable arm. About f iv e inches long and two
It is one of seven which will be sent to the moon t o inches wide the device, on radioed command , is able to
in vestigate the surface environment prior t o manned land- ex tend itself about f ive feet and scoop or dig into the lunar
ings expected to begin about 1970. It is iden ti ca l t o surface. In the larger photo , the turret to the left of the
Surveyo r , ,, which landed on the moon , A pril 19, 1967, mast houses a television camera .
site-the spacecraft transmitted to NASA earth the lu nar surface of about one-and-one-half miles
stations 11 ,150 high-resolution pictures of the surrounding the spacecraft.
lunar surface. The pictures were excel lent in quality On July 13, during its 42nd day on the moon ,
and so clear in detail that scientists have been abl e Surveyor I, after enduring the intense heat of the
to measure and to count particles as small as one - two-week lunar day (250 degrees F. maximum) ,
fiftieth of an inch in diameter . The reso lution of and the cold of the two-week -Iong lunar night
the pictures was 1,000 ,000 times better than could (minus 260 degrees F.), radioed 812 additio nal
be obtained by the be st earth-based telescopes and pictures to earth during its second lunar day on
1,000 times better than the best pictures taken the moon .
by the Ranger spacecraft. Th e pictures recei ved Surveyor I wa s the first of seven lunar soft land-
across the 247 ,000 -mile gulf separating the two ing missions planned for 1966 through 1968. Its
celestial bodies provid ed scientists with a view of test objectives called for Surveyo r to accomplish
INJECTION INTO
LUNAR TRANSFER ORBIT
Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of launch phase
trajectory of Surveyor I.
SURVEYOR
SEPARATION PHAS E
(CENTAUR COAST
RATE·STABILIZED)
ATLAS·C ENTAUR
SEPARATION
PHASE
MAIN
ENGINES
IGNITION
ATLAS
SUSTAINER
PHASE A J E T I I SON
NOSE FAIR ING
INSULATION PANELS
2
an extremely difficult mission. Its Atlas·Centaur itself from Surveyor at 31 ,000 feet , and three
launch vehicle had to launch it towa rd the moon smaller rocket engines which earlier powered the
with such accuracy that a small correction of its mid-course man eu ver, continued to slow the
flight path by a mid-course maneuver would bring desce nt. These little rockets , called verniers ,
it to a spec ific spot above the moon 's surface . reduced the spacecraft 's speed to 71.4 miles per
Then , Su rveyor wa s required to automatically fire hour by the time Surveyor was 1000 feet above
its main solid propellant retro engine and control the moon and finally to 2.8 miles an hour when
three smaller liquid engines to slow it s speed from they cut off about 10 feet above the lunar surface.
6000 miles an hour to a land ing speed of only
7.5 mph. This critical descent phase , under the
Fig. 2 Sc hematic dia g ram of terminal descent
control of a completely automatic on -board soft events to moon 's surface.
la ndin g guidance an d control system, had never
been accompli shed before and required precision \
\
\
timing and flawless execution . \
~
satisfactorily. MAIN RETRO START BY ALTITUDE·
MARKING RADAR WHICH EJECTS
Both antenn as and the spacecraft's three landing FROM NOZZLE, CRAFT STABILI ZED
legs were commanded by the Atlas-Centaur pro- BY VERNIER ENGINES AT
60·MI ALTITU DE, 5 ,900 MPH
grammer, about 12 minutes after liftoff, to extend
from thei r fold ed launch position to the flight and \
\
landing position . Fli ght controllers re ceived telem - \
\
~
retrorocket with its approach direction , just five
degrees from local lunar vertical. VERNIER ENGINES SHUTOFF
AT 10 FT, 2.8 MPH
About 28 minutes later , Surveyor's altitude
marking radar se nsed the nearness of the moon-
59% miles away-and started the automatic -_-:>
sequence that fired first its three small vernier - ~~-~.~ "
.. ~ ~-- ~..,."",",ow,,, "
engines and t hen its 9 ,000-pound -thrust main
retromotor . At th at moment , Surveyor was 46 % M,"
miles above the moon and traveling at 5840 miles :~ ~ ',~.,: : "':)
~ .::>
per hour. -::>
The powerful retro rocket blasted for 39 seconds " ~ ...~':) -;.
and slowed the spacecraft to 267 miles an hour by
the time it had descended to 35 ,000 feet altitude. NOTE: ALTITUDES, VELOCITIES, AND
The rocket moto r case automatically detached TIM ES ARE APPROXIMATE
3
Surveyor fell free the last 10 feet of the flight Hydraul ic sh ock absorbers and crushable alumi-
(See Fi g. 2) . Its landing speed at touchdown , was num honeycomb footpads attached to each landing
about 7.5 miles per hour. But telemetered readings leg eased th e touchdown as Surveyor landed lightly
from the three landing legs recorded a "second onto the moon (See Fig. 3) . Bloc ks of crushable
touchdown " less t han one second later, ind icating aluminum honeycomb were also attached to the
that the spa cecra ft bounced about two to three bottom of the spaceframe at each of the th ree
inches. corn ers to absorb part of th e land ing shock if its
t ripod gear broke or was damaged.
SURVEYOR SPACECRAFT Each of th e unmanned Surveyors to follow Sur-
Surveyor I stands about 10 fe et high , and with veyor I during t he next two -year peri od , although
its t ripod landing gear extended , cou ld be placed programmed fo r a specific series of moon topo-
within a 14-foot circle. At launch f rom Cape graphic explorations , is basically similar in appear -
Kennedy with all its fue l, engines and radar equip- ance and des ign.
ment, it weighed 2.194 pou nds . But after jettison-
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
ing th e altitude marking radar , retrom otor, and
expe ndin g th e propella nts and attitude contro l gas , Sensitive electronic apparatus requiring t empera -
the landing weig ht of Surveyor on the moon wa s t ure contro l for proper operat io n are housed in
about 594 po unds . On the moon where gravity is two thermal compart ments. The eq uipment is
about one -sixth th at of earth , its weight equalled mounted on thermal trays which distributes heat
abo ut 99 pou nds. throughout both compartments.
SOLAR PANEL
3, 960 CELLS
HIGH ·GAIN ANTENNA
SIGNAL DATA
CONVERTER ANTE NNA
OMNIANTENNA B
THERMAL COMPARTMENT A
RECEIVERS
TRANSMITTERS
MAIN BATTERY
TV AUXILIARY
CANOPUS SENSOR MAIN POWER SWITCH
OMNIANT ENNA A
4
Compartment A, which is designed to maintain A 14-cell rechargeable, silver-zinc mai'n battery
l
an internal temperature between 40 degrees and is the spacecraft's power reservoir. It stores elec-
125 degrees F., contains two radio receivers , two trica l energy gathered from the solar panel during
transmitters , th e main battery , battery charge the lu nar day. When fully charged, the battery is
regu lator, ma in power switch and some auxiliary able to provide 3,800 watt-hours at a di scharge
equipment. rate of 1.0 amperes.
Compartment B, which is designed to maintain Augment ing the primary power source is a non-
temperatures between zero and 125 degrees F. , rechargeab le silver-zinc battery contained in a
houses the central command decoder , boost regu· sea led magnesium cannister. It also acts as a power
lator, centra I signa I processor , signa I processi ng backup for both t he main battery and the solar
auxiliary , engineering signa l processor, and low pane l under peak power load conditions. Thi s
data rate auxiliary. battery has a capacity of from 800 to 1,000 watt-
Both compartments contain sensors whi ch t elem· hours , depending upon power load and operation
eter temperature measuremen t s to earth. temperat ure.
Solar cells are the spacecraft's primary power
source dur ing flight and duri ng operations in t he TELECOMMUNICATI ON S
lu nar day. The Surveyor's sola r pane l consist s of Surveyor communications equipment serves
3, 960 solar cells arranged on a thin , flat surface . three funct ions: transmission and reception of
Th e so lar cells are co nnect ed in parallel·ser ies th at radio signa!s; decoding commands sent to th e
gua rd against comp let e fail ure in t he event th at spacecraft ; and selecting and convert ing engineer-
one or even a few of the cells mal f unct ion. The ing and t elev ision data into a form suitable for
panel is able to generate a t ot al of abou t 89 transmission. Three antennas , one high-gain direc-
watts-ample power for operatio n of all on- bo ard tioni:ll antenna, and two low-gain omn idirection
equipment. ante nnas serve two t ransmitters and two receivers.
Fi g. 4
Close -up view of the 210 foot-in·diameter
tracking and communicat ion s antenna of
t he world-wide NASA Deep Space Network.
The ante nna and its supporting members
weigh approximately five million pounds
and float on an oil bearin g the th ickness
of a sheet Of paper.
5
This historic photo is the f irst 600-scan-l ine picture taken
by Surveyor I of the moon's surface. Easily identified are
one of the three lan ding legs, one of its footpads , an
omni-directional antenna boom and, at lower left, the top
of the helium gas container. Notice the d isturbance of the
lunar surface by the landing pad.
6
The high -gain antenna is used to transmit 600-
lin e television data . The low-gain anten nas receive
ground commands and transmit other data includ-
ing 200 -line television pictures from the spacecra ft.
Either low-gain antenna can be co nn ected to either
receiver.
After a series of engineeri ng interrogations to Atl as / Centaur/Surveyor spa ce vehicle confi g uration .
confirm that all spacecraft syst ems had surv ived
the lan ding, Surveyor I took its fi rst fourt ee n 200-
line pictures beginning at 2:53 p.m. (lunar time),
NOSE FAIRING
June 2. These were tra nsmitted to the Goldstone
SURVEYOR
Ca lifo rnia , Deep Space Network station . (See Fig.
SPACECRAFT
4). Th e solar panel was then positioned for power
EQU IPMENT
co nversion and Surveyor's high-ga in antenna was COM PART MENT
positioned at the earth for transmission of higher
quality 600-line pictures.
Du r ing the ni ght of June 1 and th e morning LIQUID HYDR OGEN
hou rs of June 2 (earth time) when Surveyor took TANK
7
As th e Sun sa nk lower on th e horizon the came ra
recorded another 523 pictures. Many of the pic -
tures taken with the low Sun behind the spacecraft
showed perfect si Iho uettes of Su rveyor shadowed
against the moon 's surface .
At lunar sunset , 12: 18 p.m. EDT June 14, the
camera was commanded to point toward that por -
tion of the horizon where the Sun disappeared and
a number of pictures were taken of t he solar
corona , t he Sun's up per atm osphe re.
After taking 10,338 pi ctu res during 121/2 days
of operation on t he lunar surface , Surveyor's
ca mera was shut down for th e duration of the
night. Temperat ures began dropping rap idly on the
spacecraft. The battery , however , was nea rly fully
cha rged . For the following two days , the space-
cra ft was queried periodically concerning its con-
d ition-voltages , tem peratu res a nd battery power
capac ity-by ro und -the-world stations of the Deep
Space Network.
8
POWER TROUBLE
None of 24 glass radia tors on a seco nd compart-
In preparation for picture-taking activities during ment were damaged by the extreme cold. Engineer s
the second lunar day, engineers and scientists sent estimated that the shattered segment of glass ,
commands via Goldstone on July 7 to operate Sur- representing less than one-sixtieth of the total
veyor's camera. Twenty-four pictures were taken rad iator area , had little effect on spacecraft per-
and th e camera proved to be in good working formance.
condition. But , two days later, Surveyor's battery When control of Surveyor passed to the
temperature began rising rapidly , and by afternoon Johan nesburg station just a few hours before lunar
July 9 had reached 129 degrees F., just 12 degrees dark fell on the landing site, the spacecraft's
below the maximum design limit . By 7:00 p.m. camera was made ready for 200-scan-line pictures
EDT, July 9 , the temperature was at 134 degrees of the so lar corona . Sunset was expected at 10:30
but rising at a lower rate . Emergency measures p.m . EDT on July 13. At ten 0' clock as a few test
were taken to take advantage of what was then pictures were transmitted from Surveyor, its telem-
believed to be the la st few hours of Surveyor I's etry showed large battery voltage drops indicating
ope rational life. Responding to commands from that the battery, already operating without the sup-
the Deep Space Net station at Ca nberra , the TV port of so lar power, was dying.
came ra took 38 pictures of the lunar surface . Communications with Surveyor were lo st at a
An attempt was made to fire the th ree liqu id few minutes before 11 :00 p.m . EDT after the ninth
prope llant rocket engines at a low thrust level to 200-lin e picture was recorded . Unfortunately, con-
stir up moon dust or dig a hole in the surface just tact with Surveyor I was lost before the corona
below the rocket nozzles. The attempt was unsuc- cou ld be photographed.
cessful because of the inability to turn on , by Surveyor I was not expected to survive its second
ground command , power circuits that opera ted the lunar night, which lasted for two weeks at tempera-
engine valves to release propellants into t he thrust tures approximating minus 250 degrees F. How-
cha mbers. ever, the spacecraft surprised the world scientific
By the time operations were concl uded on July co mmunity when it briefly reawakened in October
9, the battery tempe ra ture had leve led off at 139.8 and November 1966 for short peri ods at earth
degrees. Th en, inexplicably by afternoon on the co mmand . Although , on each occasion , Surveyo r
following day (July 10) , Surveyor's temperature I was able to provide scientists with a brief elec-
fell to 130 degrees , and 24 hours later, to 115 tronic account of its status , it shortly lapsed agai n
degrees, well within the operating range of th e into silence .
battery. Reason for the battery 's brief recovery is Fin al ly , in its 220th day on the moon , on com-
not known . mand from NASA's Canberra , Au stralia , tracking
With the battery problem unsolved but less station, Surveyor came to life for t he last tim e at
cri tical , picture-taking was resumed on the morn - 1:22 a.m . EST, Janu ary 6 , 1967. Although th e
ing of July 12 when 257 TV photographs of the signal received from the spacecraft was very faint ,
lunar surface were rece ived at the Goldstone sta - the tracking station did manage to remain in con-
t ion . A number of the pictures revealed visually for tact with th e craft for about twelve hours. Durin g
the first time lunar environmental da mage to this per iod important Doppler Effect data on the
Surveyor. motion of the moon was radioed by the spacec raft
The picture showed that 13 pa rt of the mirrored to earth. But no attempt was made to order its
glass atop Compartment A, used to dissipate heat t elevi sion camera into operation because of its
from temperature-sensitive electronics shattered heavy power require ments. Contact was finally lost
during the long , cold night in temperatures about with Surveyor I at sunset on the moon at 2:22 a.m.
260 degrees below zero F. At these temperatures , EST, Saturday January 7 , 1967 .
th e 1/ 5th-inch-thick segments of glass were sub- Surveyor's TV picture total now reads: First
jected to large stresses. luna r day, 10,338; second lunar day, 812 .
The compartment, covered by 36 of the glass
INFORMATION INVALUABLE
ra diators , houses two radio recei ver s, two trans-
mitters , the main battery and other equipment Information transmitted by Surveyor I concern-
designed to operate between 40 and 125 degrees F. ing lunar co nditions will continue to be studied for
10
This 600-scan -line photo transmitted by Surveyor on June
2, 1966 shows a moon rock about six inches high and
twelve inches in diam eter_ Bright spots at the left are
reflections of the sun. A small crator can be seen in the
background and the ho rizon is visible in the upper left
corner of the pictu re.
11
years . Of con siderable interest were color photo- ex hibited on earth by damp , fin e-grained soil .
graphs of the moon 's surface which showed the But , it was a pi cture from Surveyor that provided
moon , at least at the landing site , to be a dark evidence fo r th e st re ngth ch aract eristics of the
grey in color. lunar surface. Surveyo r, accordin g to evidence from
Project Apollo offic ials have al ready been able to a self -made port rait of one of it s own feet , sank
det ermin e f rom the wealt h of photographic evi- one and on e- half to three inch es into the moon
dence obtained by Surveyor , that an astronaut can surface when it dropped the last few feet to its
safely set foot on the moon 's su rface-at least in luna r landing.
the vicinity of the Surveyor landing site . Previously
there had been some doubt that the luna r surface SURVEYOR PROGRAM OBJECTIVES
could support the we ight of the Apo llo spacecraft The overall object ives of NASA 's Surveyor pro-
or even the weight of the astronaut who would gram are: to accomplish successful soft landings
emerge from it. on the moon as demonst rated by operation s of the
Som e sc ienti st s had believed th at the airless spacec raft subsequ ent to landings; to provide basic
luna r surface mi ght be covered with a thick layer da ta in support of Apollo ; and to perform opera -
of powdery dust , like fine loose sand . Others t ion s on the lunar surface wh ich will contribute
bel ieved that the moon 's su rface might be rock - new sc ientific know ledge about the moon and pro -
hard . Either condit ion , of course , could make the vi de fu rther info rmation in support of Apollo .
landing of the Apollo spacecraft extremel y hazard - The fir st four Surveyor mission s were planned
ous , if not impossible. to sa t isfy th e fir st ob jective and the last three
Surveyor I, with its safe touchdown and subse- Surveyo rs were plann ed to meet th e second objec-
quent pictures proved that the lun ar surface con - ti ve . The hi ghly successful Su rveyor I mi ssion
form ed to neith er of th ese beliefs . Now , with the sati sfi ed both object ive s and ha s contributed sig-
pictur e f acts sent to earth by Su rveyor I, most nifi ca ntly to th e attainment of obj ective three .
sci ent ist s are confid ent that th e moon surface is Pla nni ng and engin ee rin g are now under way for
reasonably stable and can suppo rt a we ight of at add ition al Su rveyo r missions to fully meet objec -
least five pounds per square inch . tive three.
Wh i le, of cour se, lunar surface soil may vary at By the tim e Apollo astronauts set foot on the
different location s on the moon , conditions at Sur- moon, lesson s gleaned by NASA sc ientists from
veyor's landing site ind icate that t he fine granular Surveyor I and oth ers of its cl ass to follow will
soil is sli ghtly compress ible. It is sim ilar, scien tist s have don e much to make th eir landing safer and
be li eve f rom photo studi es , to that which might be t hei r work more rewa rd i ng.
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