Apparently it is planned to use the LEM radar while that spacecraft is sitting on the lunar surface to determine the CSM’s orbit. I am told that the radar angle data accuracy is so poor it will not even be used; the command module’s orbit determination will be carried out with range and range rate…
Category: Lunar ascent
No special program available for targeting the CSM plane change in lunar orbit
As I understand it, it is currently planned to make a plane change with the CSM in lunar orbit within the last several revolutions prior to LEM ascent. The purpose of this maneuver is to optimize the sharing of maneuver (propulsion) requirements between the CSM and the LEM….
Does the landing radar mess up?
This memorandum is to request that you look further into the business of how the use of landing radar observations in the spacecraft computer during descent influences the onboard determination of the final landing point. Hopefully, the landing point is essentially fixed prior to processing of the landing radar data but that may not be…
Data Priority meetings schedule
In order to get a little bit more orderly in our conduct of the Trajectory Control Data Priority business, it’s evident that we must schedule meetings on a pre-established, periodic basis. Accordingly, the Ascent and Descent meetings will take place on alternate Tuesday afternoons; Rendezvous meetings will be held of Wednesdays, one mission in the…
First meeting of the Ascent Phase Mission Techniques Working Group
This memo is in confirmation of our telephone conversation requesting your participation in a continuing working group to discuss the Ascent phase of the lunar landing mission. The overall composition of this Ascent Phase Mission Techniques Working Group is as follows:…
Can MSFN figure out where the LM is on the moon’s surface?
Rod Rose sprung one on me the other day I would like to ask you about. He says that the MSFN should have a pretty good capability of determining the LM’s position on the lunar surface given one day’s worth of observation – such as during the lunar landing mission. And that this could be…
No need to perform lunar landmark orbit determination
A number of Trajectory Control Data Priority meetings have been held on the Descent phase of the lunar landing mission. A basic question arose early in these meetings regarding lunar orbit landmark tracking with the command module sextant and/or telescope. It was necessary to decide whether or not such observations are required for use in…
Lunar lift off shall be planned at discrete times only.
During our December 21 Ascent Phase Data Priority meeting we concluded that a continuous launch window for lift off from the lunar surface is not a requirement. That is, all mission planning, procedures and program development associated with the nominal lunar landing mission should be based on the assumption that one or more discrete lift…
LM rendezvous radar during Ascent is about to go over the brink.
It turns out providing justification for obtaining LM rendezvous radar data during Ascent from the lunar surface is as difficult as getting the data itself. This memorandum is to let you know that unless some sharp cookie comes along with sufficient justification we ain’t gonna get it!…
First 2 hours on the moon is a countdown to launch – simulated or real thing.
Those who participated in the STAC presentation already know this, but perhaps some of you, like me, had not heard. It is currently proposed that on the lunar landing mission the first two hours on the lunar surface will be devoted to spacecraft systems checks and launch preparations which, for all practical purposes, simulates the…