The utility of unmanned probes in lunar exploration
Utility of unmanned probes of Ranger or Surveyor class in Apollo exploration program - Lunar scientific exploration
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Utility of unmanned probes of Ranger or Surveyor class in Apollo exploration program - Lunar scientific exploration
Space programs summary no. 37-19 - vol 6, nov 1962 to jan 1963 - space exploration programs & space sciences - dsif, ranger, mariner & voyager project
Scientific experiments for ranger spacecrafts
This report covers work done by the authors on the solar simulator for the six-foot diameter space simulator presently in use at JPL. The space simulator was made by modifying an existent vacuum chamber and uses carbon arc lamps for solar simulation. All Ranger vehicles flown to date have been tested in this facility. The report also contains a series of appendixes covering various aspects of space-simulation design and use. Some of these appendixes contain detailed analyses of space-simulator design criteria. Others cover the techniques used in studying carbon-arc lamps and in applying them as solar simulation.
Modern spacecraft design no longer involves only the Engineering Sciences. To get "the bugs" out of a system must now be taken literally to signify eradication of actual free-living microorganisms. A severe impact of a non-sterilized space vehicle could result in overt, reckless contamination, virtually eliminating a celestial body as a scientific base for the exobiological phases of space exploration. Recognizing the potentially damaging effects of septic launches, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in December, 1960 authorized spacecraft sterilization and decontamination as National policy, thereby elevating the space effort onto a higher scientific plane. In the NASA directive, the basic reasons for sterilization were established, viz., "to preserve clues to the origin of life and of the universe, which may be hidden beneath the lunar strata or under the atmospheres of strange planets, to prevent inadvertent seeding of extraterrestrial surfaces by earth-life cultures, and to protect the earth from mutual contamination." In light of the foregoing, spacecraft sterilization should be regarded as the most significant single mission as well as design requirement of planetary space exploration --- especially if our objectives are primarily scientific.
Ranger spacecraft lunar seismograph
Preflight analysis and lunar photometric model - ranger spacecraft tv system
Launch to mission completion targeting techniques, computer programming for lunar and interplanetary flight programs - ranger/mariner program
Boost vehicle trajectories for ranger and mariner programs
Orbits and instrumentation of ranger spacecraft, and their use in exploring the moon, the planets and interplanetary space
Test equipment, facilities and types of tests involved in system checkout of the ranger and mariner spacecrafts
Generalized precision trajectory program for the ranger lunar and mariner interplanetary missions
Generalized precision trajectory program for ranger lunar and mariner interplanetary missions
Lunar impact television camera for Ranger III, IV, and V spacecrafts
Digital command detector and decoder for Ranger Block III command system
Lunar surface erosion evidence - implications of Ranger moon pictures
Manned space flight network performance for Ranger C and Ranger D missions