CMP Mike Collins called the other day to ask if there is any reason why he should not do active rendezvous navigation between DOI and PDI on the G mission. That is, he would like to run P20 incorporating sextant and VHF ranging data to update the LM state vector in the CMC. His primary…
Category: Lunar orbit
How we will handle the effect of mascons on the LM lunar surface gravity alignments
What do we do if one of those big damn lumps of gold is buried so near the LM that it screws up our gravity alignment on the lunar surface? Without exception, the calculations of all the various far-flung experts predict that mascons should have no significant effect on our lunar surface gravity alignments. In…
F and G Lunar Orbital operations – mostly pre-DOI LM activation stuff
On January 10 we had an F and G Mission Techniques meeting dealing mostly with Lunar Orbital operations, which I would like to record with this thing….
Apollo Mission Techniques Documentation Schedule
Here is another Mission Techniques Documentation Schedule, since the last one is three months old and barely reflects real life any more. The Lunar Orbit Activities Document will almost certainly have to be updated to reflect whatever we learn on the F mission. A June 30 release date for that update will be kinda late,…
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…
Analysis of LM rendezvous navigation is needed
This memorandum is just a reminder for a couple of action items I discussed with you coming from the lunar landing GSOP review August 17. I think it is very important that you really get on with analyzing the performance of the rendezvous navigation in the LM using the radar. Two items you should specifically…
Tweak burns
If you can stand it I would like for you to hear the latest on tweak burns – the trim maneuvers made after LM insertion from a descent abort. I thought we had this settled and on ice a couple of months ago but some things have happened which probably make it logical to revise…
Determination of relative CSM orbit
Jim, this is just a reminder of conversations with you and Emil about a job I’d like your people to do. In thinking more about this orbit determination task wherein the LEM determines the CSM orbit while sitting on the lunar surface, I wonder if perhaps MIT has lost sight of our primary objectives, thus…
F Rendezvous Mission Techniques
We had our first F Rendezvous Mission Techniques meeting on November 12. We went through the whole thing rather smoothly with very few open items, probably due to all the past work on D and G. Obviously it is a much simpler exercise than the D rendezvous. This memo is to record a few of…
Post-insertion alignment is lower priority than rendezvous navigation
It has been agreed that it is more important for the LM to obtain rendezvous navigation tracking data than to complete the platform realignment after insertion into orbit if problems occur which prolong it. The point is, an accurate CSI maneuver is vital but it is recognized that bad angle data does not substantially degrade…