How Many Lunar Spacecraft? Options

[louisfriedman]

I am interested in how many spacecraft have been to the Moon. On our web site we have (what I hope is) a complete listing of missions
http://www.planetary.org/explore/topics/ou...n/missions.html

I counted the number of spacecraft from this list and came up with a number I have been quoting in public venues. But, it is a tricky business. Failed spacecraft count, landers and rovers flying together but separating on the surface count as two, etc. So if anyone would care to give me their count I would appreciate it.

[Guest_AlexBlackwell_*]

I am interested in how many spacecraft have been to the Moon.  On our web site we have (what I hope is) a complete listing of missions
http://www.planetary.org/explore/topics/ou...n/missions.html

I'm not sure if "Missions to the Moon" means that a mission had to have the Moon as a target. If not, then you may wish to include Explorer 49.

[dvandorn]

Depending on how you want to play it, you could add the sub-satellites left in lunar orbit by Apollos 15 and 16. Each was carried aboard the CSM's SIM bay, and was deployed from the CSM before the crew headed back to Earth.

In fact, these were the very first operational satellites released from any manned vehicle, either in Earth or lunar orbit.

-the other Doug

[tasp]

In the interests of completeness:

Mariner 10 took some scientifically useful images of the moon outbound towards Venus and Mercury. It was deliberately launched on the day it was with this in mind.

Voyager 1 ( or was it 2 ? ) took a nice shot of the earth and moon together from much further away.

Cassini took a very nice time lapse series of the moon gliding serenely in its orbit about earth.

[Phil Stooke]

A very quick response now. I'll add more later.

You start with a few failed US and Soviet launches (Luna1958A and so on). Many more could be added, from the full list at NSSDC.

Zond 8 is missing.

tasp mentioned Mariner 10 and Cassini. Several other non-lunar spacecraft have imaged the moon. The most scientifically useful were Galileo and HST. Also, Nozomi, Stardust, MRO, and some others at much lower resolution which I can list later.

Luna 19 and Luna 22 photographed the surface. Luna 12 did too, but not, I am fairly sure, 1100 images. I think only about 20 images were taken. Only four have ever been publicly displayed.

Phil

[JRehling]

MGS snapped Earth/Moon from Mars orbit...

Probably every geosynchronous weather satellite would have snapped the Moon when it passed on the far side of its orbit.

[edstrick]

There were to have been two "Lunar Anchored IMP (Interplanetary Monitoring Platforms)" satellites placed in lunar orbit in about 1967 or 68, following ones placed in highly eccentric Earth orbits. The first was, I think, mis-launched and had an apoapsis of like 30,000 miles, while the second made lunar orbit and provided valuable particle and fields data for some years. I think they were Explorer 33 and 35, but I'd have to especially double-check the first's number and history.

[tasp]

Were any of ICE's instruments active during the lunar flybys to line up the path to Giacobini-Zinner ?

1 more for the list perhaps.


{btw- this is a fun thread!}

[dvandorn]

And let us not forget that Deep Impact used the Moon as a photography target to test the focus and operation of its cameras -- during which activity it was discovered just how horribly out of focus its NAC was.

-the other Doug

[Bob Shaw]

Depending on how you want to play it, you could add the sub-satellites left in lunar orbit by Apollos 15 and 16.  Each was carried aboard the CSM's SIM bay, and was deployed from the CSM before the crew headed back to Earth.

In fact, these were the very first operational satellites released from any manned vehicle, either in Earth or lunar orbit.

-the other Doug

oDoug:

o The Mercury balloon (might have been on a string)
o The Gemini Radar Evaluation Pod

Hmmm?

Bob Shaw

[Bob Shaw]

MGS snapped Earth/Moon from Mars orbit...

Probably every geosynchronous weather satellite would have snapped the Moon when it passed on the far side of its orbit.

A bit more complicated than you might think, but yes...

...depending on the relationship between the GEO vehicle's orbit and that of the Moon, you *should* get line-ups from time to time - probably more often north/south than east/west (treating Earth and Moon as points, which they ain't!). My gut reaction is that there should be, somewhere, a limited number of Earth/Moon images - more than, say, images of eclipses (a related calculation) but less than we might hope.

Anyone seen any such images?

Bob Shaw

[dvandorn]

oDoug:

o  The Mercury balloon (might have been on a string)
o  The Gemini Radar Evaluation Pod

Hmmm?

Bob Shaw

I guess it depends on what you mean by "operational satellite." The Mercury balloons were inert, simply meant to be an object wiith which the Mercury pilot could make certain attitude-control maneuvers. The REP had some active electronics, but it was only designed to be used, for *any* reason, by the Gemini V vehicle that released it (and was only designed to operate for a few hours, which meant it was never actually *used* for its intended purpose, since Gemini V's rendezvous tests were postponed until well after the REP fell silent).

The Apollo 15 and 16 sub-satellites were the very first independent satellites launched from a manned vehicle that were designed to be used by ground-based investigators entirely separately from the spacecraft crew or its primary controllers. The *only* function that the crew and the Apollo flight controllers had, in regard these sub-satellites, was to give them a ride into lunar orbit and leave them there.

I mean, heck, we could always include Ed White's EVA thermal glove, if we're just talking about *any* object left in orbit that originally went into space aboard a manned vehicle...

-the other Doug

[Bob Shaw]

oDoug:

The balloon experiment was no more or less 'inert' than, say, Echo, or LAGEOS, or the LDEF, inasmuch as it performed just as specified, and had no batteries included as part of the design. Not having any radio stuff aboard doesn't stop a satellite being an independent and fully-paid up vehicle! I can't remember if it was on a nylon cord for observation during (early stages of) re-entry, which would tend to make it just a part of the capsule, rather than itself being a satellite.

And the Gemini REP did it's job too, it was the manned spacecraft which had problems doing the rendezvous (fuel cell issues, AIR). And with batteries, to boot!

So I'd still count Gemini, and possibly Mercury! You're quite right about the Apollo 15 and 16 sub-satellites, though - they were the first where there was no local spacecraft interaction, and the Apollo CSM was merely a delivery vehicle.

Ain't nit-picking a terrific pastime?

Bob Shaw

[odave]

And let us not forget that Deep Impact used the Moon as a photography target

...as did MRO

[EDIT] Ooops, I see Phil got it earlier

[ljk4-1]

There were to have been two "Lunar Anchored IMP (Interplanetary Monitoring Platforms)" satellites placed in lunar orbit in about 1967 or 68, following ones placed in highly eccentric Earth orbits.  The first was, I think, mis-launched and had an apoapsis of like 30,000 miles, while the second made lunar orbit and provided valuable particle and fields data for some years.  I think they were Explorer 33 and 35, but I'd have to especially double-check the first's number and history.

While looking up information on these satellites, I came across this interesting online paper on Explorer 33 from 1967:

Microbiological Burden on the Surfaces of Explorer XXXIII Spacecraft by
Edmund M. Powers

The Explorer XXXIII Spacecraft (Anchored Interplanetary Monitoring Platform, or AIMP) was decontaminated to prevent gross contamination of the moon with terrestrial microorganisms. Assay of the total spacecraft surface before and after decontamination showed that the decontamination procedure reduced the viable microbiological burden from 1.40 × 106 to 3.60 × 104. However, assembly of parts which were not decontaminated for engineering reasons or were not assembled under cleanroom conditions increased the viable microbial burden at the time of launch to 2.62 × 105.

Space Biology Branch, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Biological Sciences, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771

1 This research was conducted for and in cooperation with the Spacecraft Integration and Sounding Rocket Division assigned the responsibility for decontamination of the spacecraft.

http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/articlerender...ubmedid=6053173


Regarding other online documents on Explorer 33 and 35, see here:

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntr..._1967023519.pdf

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntr..._1967017263.pdf

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntr..._1967009370.pdf

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntr..._1967024524.pdf

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntr..._1967029727.pdf

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntr..._1968018839.pdf

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntr..._1969017890.pdf