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 surface
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…
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…
Spacecraft computer program newsletter
I learned some things at MIT last week that seemed interesting enough to justify this note. Of course, it deals primarily with the spacecraft computer programs and their influence on the mission techniques we are developing….
Spacecraft computer program – things dealing with lunar descent and aborts from it
I spent an interesting morning at MIT on May 16 with George Cherry, Dan Lickly, Norm Sears, and Craig Schulenberg talking about Luminary how it works and some things that really haven’t been defined yet. It primarily dealt with lunar descent and aborts from lunar descent….
Some alternate ways of figuring out where the LM is on the moon will be available
For some months we have been concerned with the problem of determining the LM’s location after its landing on the lunar surface. This information is essential in order to do a decent job of Ascent targeting and, in fact, a significant error can even influence crew safety. Primary modes already implemented in the Control Center/RTCC…
LM Ascent lift-off time can be determined by the crew
Some months ago we submitted a PCR to remove the pre-Ascent targeting program (P10) from Luminary and this was done. This action was based on an assumption that a simple crew procedure could be developed for doing the same job, in the event of loss of communications, making the rather complicated computer program unnecessary. The…
Results of the October 8 Apollo Spacecraft Software Configuration Control Board (ASSCCB) meeting
In this memo I will briefly describe some of the highlights of the subject meeting:…
Procedure for LM aborts immediately after landing are terrible!
Clarke Hackler of Guidance and Control Division uncovered a rather alarming situation which we’ve discussed a little at our Descent Abort Mission Techniques meetings. He briefly states the problem quite nicely in the attached memo, which I thought should be brought to your attention….
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…