NASA~ffi~~

AN EDUCATIONAL PUBLICATION OF THE

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINIS T RATION

NF-35/VO L. IV , NO . 6

Surveyor
On May 30, 1966, Surveyor I climbed away from
Cape Kennedy, Flori da , aboard an Atlas-Centaur
rocket . On June 2 , 1966, sixty-three hours and
thirty- six minutes later, after traveling almost a
quarter of a million miles, it landed within nine
On
miles of its target in the Ocean of Storms close to
the lunar equator.
During the six weeks following Surveyor's land -
ing-while the sun set , rose again 14 earth days
later and set a second time on Surveyor's landing

Exact counterpart of the Su rveyor I spacecraft w hic h made
the first U.S. " soft landing" on the moon J une I , 1966.
It is one of seven which will be sent to the moon t o
in vestigate the surface environment prior t o manned land-
ings expected to begin about 1970. It is iden ti ca l t o
Surveyo r , ,, which landed on the moon , A pril 19, 1967,
ex cept for t he surface sampler (see inset) fastened to a
metal extendable arm. About f iv e inches long and two
inches wide the device, on radioed command , is able to
ex tend itself about f ive feet and scoop or dig into the lunar
surface. In the larger photo , the turret to the left of the
mast houses a television camera .
site-the spacecraft transmitted to NASA earth
stations 11 ,150 high-resolution pictures of the
lunar surface. The pictures were excel lent in quality
and so clear in detail that scientists have been abl e
to measure and to count particles as small as one -
fiftieth of an inch in diameter . The reso lution of
the pictures was 1,000 ,000 times better than could
be obtained by the be st earth-based telescopes and
1,000 times better than the best pictures taken
by the Ranger spacecraft. Th e pictures recei ved
across the 247 ,000 -mile gulf separating the two
celestial bodies provid ed scientists with a view of
the lu nar surface of about one-and-one-half miles
surrounding the spacecraft.
On July 13, during its 42nd day on the moon ,
Surveyor I, after enduring the intense heat of the
two-week lunar day (250 degrees F. maximum) ,
and the cold of the two-week -Iong lunar night
(minus 260 degrees F.), radioed 812 additio nal
pictures to earth during its second lunar day on
the moon .
Surveyor I wa s the first of seven lunar soft land-
ing missions planned for 1966 through 1968. Its
test objectives called for Surveyo r to accomplish

INJECTION INTO
LUNAR TRANSFER ORBIT
Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of launch phase
trajectory of Surveyor I.

SURVEYOR
SEPARATION PHAS E
(CENTAUR COAST
RATE·STABILIZED)

ATLAS·C ENTAUR
SEPARATION
PHASE

MAIN
ENGINES
IGNITION

ATLAS
SUSTAINER
PHASE A J E T I I SON
NOSE FAIR ING

INSULATION PANELS

- - LAUNCH FROM CAPE KENNEDY

2
an extremely difficult mission. Its Atlas·Centaur
launch vehicle had to launch it towa rd the moon
with such accuracy that a small correction of its
flight path by a mid-course maneuver would bring
it to a spec ific spot above the moon 's surface .
Then , Su rveyor wa s required to automatically fire
its main solid propellant retro engine and control
three smaller liquid engines to slow it s speed from
6000 miles an hour to a land ing speed of only
7.5 mph. This critical descent phase , under the
control of a completely automatic on -board soft
la ndin g guidance an d control system, had never
been accompli shed before and required precision
timing and flawless execution .
itself from Surveyor at 31 ,000 feet , and three
smaller rocket engines which earlier powered the
mid-course man eu ver, continued to slow the
desce nt. These little rockets , called verniers ,
reduced the spacecraft 's speed to 71.4 miles per
hour by the time Surveyor was 1000 feet above
the moon and finally to 2.8 miles an hour when
they cut off about 10 feet above the lunar surface.
Fig. 2 Sc hematic dia g ram of terminal descent
events to moon 's surface.
\
\
\
\

SURVEYOR FLIGHT ~ ""''' m""",

Surveyor I lifted off Launch Pad 36-A at Cape \
\
Kennedy within one second of its planned launch
time-lOAl:01 a.m . Eastern Daylight Time-on
May 30, 1966 (See Fig. 1). Sub sequently , all
launch vehicl e and spaceflight events occurred
k \
\
PRE·RETRO MANEUVER 30 MIN
BEFORE TOUCHDOWN ALIGNS
MAIN RETRO WITH FLIGHT PATH

~
satisfactorily. MAIN RETRO START BY ALTITUDE·
MARKING RADAR WHICH EJECTS
Both antenn as and the spacecraft's three landing FROM NOZZLE, CRAFT STABILI ZED
legs were commanded by the Atlas-Centaur pro- BY VERNIER ENGINES AT
60·MI ALTITU DE, 5 ,900 MPH
grammer, about 12 minutes after liftoff, to extend
from thei r fold ed launch position to the flight and \
\
landing position . Fli ght controllers re ceived telem - \
\

etry information , however, indicati ng that Antenna \

A, one of Surveyor's two low gain antennas, failed

MAIN RETRO BURNOUT AND EJECTION ,
to deploy. VERNIER RETRO SYSTEM TAKEOVER AT
Later , after Su rveyor I tou ched down on the 31 ,000 FT, 267 MPH

moon , telemetry showed that the antenn as were

properly ext ended . Television pictures from Sur-
veyor's camera of t he antenna and its latching
mechanism provided verification of this.
Th e critical termina l desce nt began 31 minutes
and 2000 miles from the moon with a series of
carefully planned maneuvers to align Surveyor's I

~
retrorocket with its approach direction , just five
degrees from local lunar vertical. VERNIER ENGINES SHUTOFF
AT 10 FT, 2.8 MPH
About 28 minutes later , Surveyor's altitude
marking radar se nsed the nearness of the moon-
59% miles away-and started the automatic -_-:>

sequence that fired first its three small vernier - ~~-~.~ "
.. ~ ~-- ~..,."",",ow,,, "
engines and t hen its 9 ,000-pound -thrust main
retromotor . At th at moment , Surveyor was 46 % M,"

miles above the moon and traveling at 5840 miles :~ ~ ',~.,: : "':)
~ .::>
per hour. -::>
The powerful retro rocket blasted for 39 seconds " ~ ...~':) -;.
and slowed the spacecraft to 267 miles an hour by
the time it had descended to 35 ,000 feet altitude. NOTE: ALTITUDES, VELOCITIES, AND
The rocket moto r case automatically detached TIM ES ARE APPROXIMATE

3
 Surveyor fell free the last 10 feet of the flight
(See Fi g. 2) . Its landing speed at touchdown , was
about 7.5 miles per hour. But telemetered readings
from the three landing legs recorded a "second
touchdown " less t han one second later, ind icating
that the spa cecra ft bounced about two to three
inches.
SURVEYOR SPACECRAFT
Surveyor I stands about 10 fe et high , and with
its t ripod landing gear extended , cou ld be placed
within a 14-foot circle. At launch f rom Cape
Kennedy with all its fue l, engines and radar equip-
ment, it weighed 2.194 pou nds . But after jettison-
ing th e altitude marking radar , retrom otor, and
expe ndin g th e propella nts and attitude contro l gas ,
the landing weig ht of Surveyor on the moon wa s
about 594 po unds . On the moon where gravity is
about one -sixth th at of earth , its weight equalled
abo ut 99 pou nds.
Hydraul ic sh ock absorbers and crushable alumi-
num honeycomb footpads attached to each landing
leg eased th e touchdown as Surveyor landed lightly
onto the moon (See Fig. 3) . Bloc ks of crushable
aluminum honeycomb were also attached to the
bottom of the spaceframe at each of the th ree
corn ers to absorb part of th e land ing shock if its
t ripod gear broke or was damaged.
Each of th e unmanned Surveyors to follow Sur-
veyor I during t he next two -year peri od , although
programmed fo r a specific series of moon topo-
graphic explorations , is basically similar in appear -
ance and des ign.
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
Sensitive electronic apparatus requiring t empera -
t ure contro l for proper operat io n are housed in
two thermal compart ments. The eq uipment is
mounted on thermal trays which distributes heat
throughout both compartments.

Fi g . 3 Surveyor I spacecraft co nfig uration

SECONDARY SUN SENSOR

SOLAR PANEL
3, 960 CELLS
HIGH ·GAIN ANTENNA

SIGNAL DATA
CONVERTER ANTE NNA

OMNIANTENNA B

THERMAL COMPARTMENT A
RECEIVERS
TRANSMITTERS
MAIN BATTERY
TV AUXILIARY
CANOPUS SENSOR MAIN POWER SWITCH

OMNIANT ENNA A

FLIG HT CONTRo.L SENSOR

GROUP

THE RMAL COM PARTM ENT B

ATTITUDE JET ( 6)
COMMAND DECODER
SIGNAL PROCESSOR
AND DECODING UNIT

VERNIER ENGINE (3)

4
 Compartment A, which is designed to maintain
an internal temperature between 40 degrees and
125 degrees F., contains two radio receivers , two
transmitters , th e main battery , battery charge
regu lator, ma in power switch and some auxiliary
equipment.
Compartment B, which is designed to maintain
temperatures between zero and 125 degrees F. ,
houses the central command decoder , boost regu·
lator, centra I signa I processor , signa I processi ng
auxiliary , engineering signa l processor, and low
data rate auxiliary.
Both compartments contain sensors whi ch t elem·
eter temperature measuremen t s to earth.
Solar cells are the spacecraft's primary power
source dur ing flight and duri ng operations in t he
lu nar day. The Surveyor's sola r pane l consist s of
3, 960 solar cells arranged on a thin , flat surface .
Th e so lar cells are co nnect ed in parallel·ser ies th at
gua rd against comp let e fail ure in t he event th at
one or even a few of the cells mal f unct ion. The
panel is able to generate a t ot al of abou t 89
watts-ample power for operatio n of all on- bo ard
equipment.
A 14-cell rechargeable, silver-zinc mai'n battery
l
is the spacecraft's power reservoir. It stores elec-
trica l energy gathered from the solar panel during
the lu nar day. When fully charged, the battery is
able to provide 3,800 watt-hours at a di scharge
rate of 1.0 amperes.
Augment ing the primary power source is a non-
rechargeab le silver-zinc battery contained in a
sea led magnesium cannister. It also acts as a power
backup for both t he main battery and the solar
pane l under peak power load conditions. Thi s
battery has a capacity of from 800 to 1,000 watt-
hours , depending upon power load and operation
temperat ure.
TELECOMMUNICATI ON S
Surveyor communications equipment serves
three funct ions: transmission and reception of
radio signa!s; decoding commands sent to th e
spacecraft ; and selecting and convert ing engineer-
ing and t elev ision data into a form suitable for
transmission. Three antennas , one high-gain direc-
tioni:ll antenna, and two low-gain omn idirection
ante nnas serve two t ransmitters and two receivers.
Fi g. 4
Close -up view of the 210 foot-in·diameter
tracking and communicat ion s antenna of
t he world-wide NASA Deep Space Network.
The ante nna and its supporting members
weigh approximately five million pounds
and float on an oil bearin g the th ickness
of a sheet Of paper.
5
This historic photo is the f irst 600-scan-l ine picture taken
by Surveyor I of the moon's surface. Easily identified are
one of the three lan ding legs, one of its footpads , an
omni-directional antenna boom and, at lower left, the top
of the helium gas container. Notice the d isturbance of the
lunar surface by the landing pad.

6
 The high -gain antenna is used to transmit 600-
lin e television data . The low-gain anten nas receive
ground commands and transmit other data includ-
ing 200 -line television pictures from the spacecra ft.
Either low-gain antenna can be co nn ected to either
receiver.

SURVEYOR I LUNAR OPERATIONS

After a series of engineeri ng interrogations to Atl as / Centaur/Surveyor spa ce vehicle confi g uration .
confirm that all spacecraft syst ems had surv ived
the lan ding, Surveyor I took its fi rst fourt ee n 200-
line pictures beginning at 2:53 p.m. (lunar time),
NOSE FAIRING
June 2. These were tra nsmitted to the Goldstone
SURVEYOR
Ca lifo rnia , Deep Space Network station . (See Fig.
SPACECRAFT
4). Th e solar panel was then positioned for power
EQU IPMENT
co nversion and Surveyor's high-ga in antenna was COM PART MENT
positioned at the earth for transmission of higher
quality 600-line pictures.
Du r ing the ni ght of June 1 and th e morning LIQUID HYDR OGEN
hou rs of June 2 (earth time) when Surveyor took TANK

its first 144 pictures , commercial t elevis ion net- CE NTAUR

works re layed t he live lunar program throughout STAGE
LIQUID OXYGEN
the nation. The Early Bird satellite carried the TANK
pictures even further-to Eu rope . CE NTAUR
More than 82 ,000 ground commands to Sur- MAIN ENGINE (2)

veyor were transmitted from the Gold ston e stati on

from May 30 to June 14, Du r ing its most produc- ADAPTER
tive session over Goldstone , June 10, Su rveyo r
took 1758 pictu res of the moon an d received and
LIQUID OXYGEN
acted upon more than 12,000 command s. Si x TANK
hours and 37 minutes of Surveyor's 10-hour, 20-
minute period over Goldstone were devoted to
picture transmission.
On June 6, an attempt was made to photograph
a port ion of the earth , but th e planet was ju st out
of view, above the eleva tion range of th e tiltin g
mirro r of the camera.
LIQUID OXYGEN TLAS
Several attempts were made to di sturb the DUCT STAG E
lunar surface or create a sma ll dust cloud near
FUEL TANK
one of the spacecraft 's three landing feet by firing
bursts of nitrogen gas from Surveyor 's attitude
control jets. However, no disturbance or du st wa s
discern ib le in TV pictures taken during and after
the firing s.
VERNIER THRUST
Becau se of the exce llent condition of the space- CHAMBER (2)
craft after it had operated on the moon for more
than a week , there was speculation that Surveyor
might survive the lunar night. Thi s possib ility was
taken into account during formulation of plans for BOOSTER THRUST
CHAMBER (2)
the spacecraft's operati on on the fin al day of sun- CHAMBER
light-June 14.

7
 As th e Sun sa nk lower on th e horizon the came ra
recorded another 523 pictures. Many of the pic -
tures taken with the low Sun behind the spacecraft
showed perfect si Iho uettes of Su rveyor shadowed
against the moon 's surface .
At lunar sunset , 12: 18 p.m. EDT June 14, the
camera was commanded to point toward that por -
tion of the horizon where the Sun disappeared and
a number of pictures were taken of t he solar
corona , t he Sun's up per atm osphe re.
After taking 10,338 pi ctu res during 121/2 days
of operation on t he lunar surface , Surveyor's
ca mera was shut down for th e duration of the
night. Temperat ures began dropping rap idly on the
spacecraft. The battery , however , was nea rly fully
cha rged . For the following two days , the space-
cra ft was queried periodically concerning its con-
d ition-voltages , tem peratu res a nd battery power
capac ity-by ro und -the-world stations of the Deep
Space Network.

END OF THE FIRST MOON DAY

Surveyor went deeper into hibernation on June
16, co nservi ng its stored electrica l energy, expend-
ing only eno ugh to keep itself warm during the
lon g, co ld night. The only syste ms fu nct ioning in
the power-conservi ng fa shion were the t wo radio
receivers and th e co mmand decoder to accept
comma nd s from space communicatio ns stations
on earth .
The so lar pane l had been positioned so that at
dawn t he Sun would not strike the power-converting
ce ll s too qu ickl y, sending a sudd en surge of cur-
ren t in to the ch illed electronics system s. The plan
was that several earth days time wou ld be required
to warm Surveyor to the point where it cou ld be
sa fely operated.
On June 28 , a few hours before sunrise on
Surveyor, commands to turn on the spacecraft
transmitter were sen t f rom th e tracking station at
Go ld ston e. No response was rece ived. For several
hours each day th erea fter , Go ldstone sent the same
commands. Th e stat io n at Canberra took over t he
wake -up duties on July 3 and fina ll y aroused Sur-
veyor from its power-conservin g sleep on July 6.

The moo n's hOrizon in this photo take n by Su rveyor seems

tilted. Th is is becau se Surveyor's camera is tilted and
pointed directly at the sun which is out of view. Bright
circ les in t he sky are reflections of t he sun caused by
the camera 's mirror.

8
POWER TROUBLE
In preparation for picture-taking activities during
the second lunar day, engineers and scientists sent
commands via Goldstone on July 7 to operate Sur-
veyor's camera. Twenty-four pictures were taken
and th e camera proved to be in good working
condition. But , two days later, Surveyor's battery
temperature began rising rapidly , and by afternoon
July 9 had reached 129 degrees F., just 12 degrees
below the maximum design limit . By 7:00 p.m.
EDT, July 9 , the temperature was at 134 degrees
but rising at a lower rate . Emergency measures
were taken to take advantage of what was then
believed to be the la st few hours of Surveyor I's
ope rational life. Responding to commands from
the Deep Space Net station at Ca nberra , the TV
came ra took 38 pictures of the lunar surface .
An attempt was made to fire the th ree liqu id
prope llant rocket engines at a low thrust level to
stir up moon dust or dig a hole in the surface just
below the rocket nozzles. The attempt was unsuc-
cessful because of the inability to turn on , by
ground command , power circuits that opera ted the
engine valves to release propellants into t he thrust
cha mbers.
By the time operations were concl uded on July
9, the battery tempe ra ture had leve led off at 139.8
degrees. Th en, inexplicably by afternoon on the
following day (July 10) , Surveyor's temperature
fell to 130 degrees , and 24 hours later, to 115
degrees, well within the operating range of th e
battery. Reason for the battery 's brief recovery is
not known .
With the battery problem unsolved but less
cri tical , picture-taking was resumed on the morn -
ing of July 12 when 257 TV photographs of the
lunar surface were rece ived at the Goldstone sta -
t ion . A number of the pictures revealed visually for
the first time lunar environmental da mage to
Surveyor.
The picture showed that 13 pa rt of the mirrored
glass atop Compartment A, used to dissipate heat
from temperature-sensitive electronics shattered
during the long , cold night in temperatures about
260 degrees below zero F. At these temperatures ,
th e 1/ 5th-inch-thick segments of glass were sub-
jected to large stresses.
The compartment, covered by 36 of the glass
ra diators , houses two radio recei ver s, two trans-
mitters , the main battery and other equipment
designed to operate between 40 and 125 degrees F.
10
None of 24 glass radia tors on a seco nd compart-
ment were damaged by the extreme cold. Engineer s
estimated that the shattered segment of glass ,
representing less than one-sixtieth of the total
rad iator area , had little effect on spacecraft per-
formance.
When control of Surveyor passed to the
Johan nesburg station just a few hours before lunar
dark fell on the landing site, the spacecraft's
camera was made ready for 200-scan-line pictures
of the so lar corona . Sunset was expected at 10:30
p.m . EDT on July 13. At ten 0' clock as a few test
pictures were transmitted from Surveyor, its telem-
etry showed large battery voltage drops indicating
that the battery, already operating without the sup-
port of so lar power, was dying.
Communications with Surveyor were lo st at a
few minutes before 11 :00 p.m . EDT after the ninth
200-lin e picture was recorded . Unfortunately, con-
tact with Surveyor I was lost before the corona
cou ld be photographed.
Surveyor I was not expected to survive its second
lunar night, which lasted for two weeks at tempera-
tures approximating minus 250 degrees F. How-
ever, the spacecraft surprised the world scientific
co mmunity when it briefly reawakened in October
and November 1966 for short peri ods at earth
co mmand . Although , on each occasion , Surveyo r
I was able to provide scientists with a brief elec-
tronic account of its status , it shortly lapsed agai n
into silence .
Fin al ly , in its 220th day on the moon , on com-
mand from NASA's Canberra , Au stralia , tracking
station, Surveyor came to life for t he last tim e at
1:22 a.m . EST, Janu ary 6 , 1967. Although th e
signal received from the spacecraft was very faint ,
the tracking station did manage to remain in con-
tact with th e craft for about twelve hours. Durin g
this per iod important Doppler Effect data on the
motion of the moon was radioed by the spacec raft
to earth. But no attempt was made to order its
t elevi sion camera into operation because of its
heavy power require ments. Contact was finally lost
with Surveyor I at sunset on the moon at 2:22 a.m.
EST, Saturday January 7 , 1967 .
Surveyor's TV picture total now reads: First
luna r day, 10,338; second lunar day, 812 .
INFORMATION INVALUABLE
Information transmitted by Surveyor I concern-
ing lunar co nditions will continue to be studied for
This 600-scan -line photo transmitted by Surveyor on June
2, 1966 shows a moon rock about six inches high and
twelve inches in diam eter_ Bright spots at the left are
reflections of the sun. A small crator can be seen in the
background and the ho rizon is visible in the upper left
corner of the pictu re.

11
years . Of con siderable interest were color photo-
graphs of the moon 's surface which showed the
moon , at least at the landing site , to be a dark
grey in color.
Project Apollo offic ials have al ready been able to
det ermin e f rom the wealt h of photographic evi-
dence obtained by Surveyor , that an astronaut can
safely set foot on the moon 's su rface-at least in
the vicinity of the Surveyor landing site . Previously
there had been some doubt that the luna r surface
could support the we ight of the Apo llo spacecraft
or even the weight of the astronaut who would
emerge from it.
Som e sc ienti st s had believed th at the airless
luna r surface mi ght be covered with a thick layer
of powdery dust , like fine loose sand . Others
bel ieved that the moon 's su rface might be rock -
hard . Either condit ion , of course , could make the
landing of the Apollo spacecraft extremel y hazard -
ous , if not impossible.
Surveyor I, with its safe touchdown and subse-
quent pictures proved that the lun ar surface con -
form ed to neith er of th ese beliefs . Now , with the
pictur e f acts sent to earth by Su rveyor I, most
sci ent ist s are confid ent that th e moon surface is
reasonably stable and can suppo rt a we ight of at
least five pounds per square inch .
Wh i le, of cour se, lunar surface soil may vary at
different location s on the moon , conditions at Sur-
veyor's landing site ind icate that t he fine granular
soil is sli ghtly compress ible. It is sim ilar, scien tist s
be li eve f rom photo studi es , to that which might be
ex hibited on earth by damp , fin e-grained soil .
But , it was a pi cture from Surveyor that provided
evidence fo r th e st re ngth ch aract eristics of the
lunar surface. Surveyo r, accordin g to evidence from
a self -made port rait of one of it s own feet , sank
one and on e- half to three inch es into the moon
surface when it dropped the last few feet to its
luna r landing.
SURVEYOR PROGRAM OBJECTIVES
The overall object ives of NASA 's Surveyor pro-
gram are: to accomplish successful soft landings
on the moon as demonst rated by operation s of the
spacec raft subsequ ent to landings; to provide basic
da ta in support of Apollo ; and to perform opera -
t ion s on the lunar surface wh ich will contribute
new sc ientific know ledge about the moon and pro -
vi de fu rther info rmation in support of Apollo .
The fir st four Surveyor mission s were planned
to sa t isfy th e fir st ob jective and the last three
Surveyo rs were plann ed to meet th e second objec-
ti ve . The hi ghly successful Su rveyor I mi ssion
sati sfi ed both object ive s and ha s contributed sig-
nifi ca ntly to th e attainment of obj ective three .
Pla nni ng and engin ee rin g are now under way for
add ition al Su rveyo r missions to fully meet objec -
tive three.
By the tim e Apollo astronauts set foot on the
moon, lesson s gleaned by NASA sc ientists from
Surveyor I and oth ers of its cl ass to follow will
have don e much to make th eir landing safer and
t hei r work more rewa rd i ng.

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u. S. GOVERNMENT PRI TlNG OFFICE, 1967 0 - 269-560