During the February 26th Data Select Mission Techninques meeting, Math Physics Branch (MPB) picked up three action items for the G mission, of which you should be aware….
Category: Lunar ascent
Unusual procedure required for LM Ascent from the moon
Jack Craven surprised us with a little jewel the other day during the Lunar Surface Mission Techniques meeting. He says that in order to enable the APS engine-on and staging commands from the LGC, it is necessary for the crew to depress (now get this) the Abort-Stage button! That is, depressing this button must be…
Ascent Phase Mission Techniques meeting – February 27, 1968
In the absence of Charley Parker, our beloved leader, I inherited the job of chairing this meeting which probably accounts for why we didn’t really get an awful lot done. However, there are a couple of things that are probably worth reporting….
G Lunar Surface Phase Mission Techniques
During the first half of 1968 we held a sequence of meetings which culminated in a proposed set of mission techniques concerning use of the guidance and propulsion systems while the LM is in the lunar surface. This was documented in a Lunar Surface Phase Mission Techniques book, dated October 6, 1968. On February 5…
Let’s add a plane change into the lunar rendezvous timeline
The June 13 Lunar Rendezvous Mission Techniques meeting was devoted to how to handle the plane change. As noted in my last bulletin, this problem had to be solved before we could do any meaningful work in the development of lunar rendezvous mission techniques. In my opinion a pretty good approach has been agreed to….
Rendezvous radar will be available during critical mission phases.
Something rather astounding happened at the Apollo Spacecraft Software Configuration Control Board meeting on Tuesday, January 30. It was so shocking the word spread like wildfire! But just in case you have not already heard, it looks like we are going to get rendezvous radar data on the downlink during the critical LM powered flight…
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….
No 15 minute constraint for Lunar Ascent Guidance
The Luminary GSOP indicated that it is necessary for the astronaut to call up the Ascent Guidance Program (P22) at least 15 minutes prior to lift off. This, of course, is not consistent with our desire to be able to use P12 if we get a No Go for lunar stay approximately 10 minutes after…
MCC-H Ascent Monitoring
This is a note primarily to myself to remind me of impressions obtained during the MCC-H Ascent Monitoring meeting of January 24, 1969. Although it appeared that the prime program for processing MSFN data was to be the “Lear,” I feel quite strongly that the old, direct doppler-measurement technique should be retained for in-place monitoring….
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…