Apollo 17 Mission Report

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APOLLO 1 7 MISSION REPORT

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LYNDON B. JOHNSON SPACE CENTERH0 U STON . T E X X S

MARCH 1973i


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M O L L 0 17 M I S S I O N RFPORT

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PmPARED BYM i s s i o n Evaluation T e a m

i APPROVED BYI

Owen G. M o r r i sManager, A p o l l o Spacecraft Program

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATIONLYNDON B. JOHNSON SPACE CENTER

HOUSTON, TEXASM a r c h 1973


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TABLE OF CONTENTSSection Page1.0 S U M M A R Y . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-12.0 'INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-13.0 TMJXCTORY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-1

3.1 LAUNCH AND TRANSLUNAR TRAJECTORIES . . . . . . . . 3-13.2 S-IVB STAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-13.3 LUNAR ORBIT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-83.4 TRANSEARTH AND ENTRY TRAJECTORY . . . . . . . . . . 3-9

4.0 LUNAR SURFACE SCIENCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-14 .14.24.34.44.54.64.74.84.94.104 .114.124.134.14

SUMMARY OF LUNAR SURFACE ACTIVITIES . . . . . . . . 4-1APOLLO LUNAR SURFACE EX PER1I"TS PACKAGECENTRAL STATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 -1HEAT FLOW E~PERIMENT . . . . . . . . . .LUNAR SEISMIC PROFILING EXPERIiYENT . . .LUNAR ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION EXPERIMENTLUNAR EJECTA AND METEORITES EXPERIMENT .LUNAR SURFACE G M V I m T E R EXPERIiYENT . . .TRAVERSE GRAVIMETER EXPERIMENT . . . . .SURFACE ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES EXPERIMENTLUNAR NEUTRON PROBE EXPERIMENT . . . . .COSMIC MY DETECTOR EXPERIMENT . . . . .LUNAR GEOLOGY . . . . . . . . . . . . . .S O I L MECHANICS EXPERIMENT . . . . . . . .PHOTOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . 4-9. . . . . 4-11. . . . . 4-12. . . . . 4-13. . . . . 4-13. . . . . 4-14. . . . . 4-15. . . . . 4-15. . . . . 4-16. . . . . 4-17. . . . . 4-40. . . . . 4-41


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Section Page5 .0 INFLIGHT SCIENCE AND PHOTOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-1

5 . 1 S-BAND TRANSPONDER EXPE RIME NT . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2 LUNAR SOUNDER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3 ULTRAVIOLET SPECTROMETER . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 .4 INFRARED SCANNING RADIOMETER . . . . . . . . . . . 5.5 PANORAMIC CAMERA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.6 MAPPINGCAMERA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 .7 LASER ALTIMETER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.8 OPERATIONAL AND COMMAND MODULE SCIENCEPHOTOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 .9 VISUAL OBSERVATIONS FROM ORBIT . . . . . . . . . . 5.10 GAMMA RAY SPECTROMETER EXPERIMENT . . . . . . . . . 5 . 1 1 APOLLO WINDOW METEOROID EXPERIMZNT . . . . . . . .

6 .0 MEDICAL EXPERIMENTS \AND INFLIGHT DEMOITSTRATIONS . . . . . 6 . 1 BIOSTACK EXPERIMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2 BIOLOGICAL COSMIC RADIATION EXPERIMENT . . . . . . 6.3 VISUAL LIGHT FLASH PHENOMENON . . . . . . . . . . .

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6 .4 HEAT FLOWAND CONVECTION DEMONSTRATION . . . . . . 6 . 5 ORTHOSTATIC COUNTERMEASURE GARMENT . . . . . . . .

7 .0 COMMAND AND SERVICE MODULE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 .1 STRUCTURES AND MECHANICAL SYSTEMS . . . . . . . . .7.2 ELECTRICAL POWER AND RJEL CEUS . . . . . . . . . . 7.3 CRYOGENICS STORAGE SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.4 COMMUNICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5 INSTRUMENTATION AND DISPLAYS . . . . . . . . . . .7.6 GUIDANCE, NAVIGATION, AND CONTROL . . . . . . . . .7.7 SERVICE PROPULSION SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Rl3ACTION CONTROL SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . .EXTRAVEHICULm ACTIVITY EQUIPMENT . . . . . . . . . CONSUMABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

LUNAR MODULE PERFORMANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 . 1 STRUCTURFS AND MECHANICAL SYSTEm . . . . . . . . . 8 .2 ELECTRICAL POWER DISTRIBUTION AVD

BA T T E RI E S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 . 3 COMMUNICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 .4 INSTRUMENTATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 .5 RADAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 . 6 DESCENT PROPULSION SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.7 ASCENT PROPULSION SYSTEM . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 .8 GUIDANCE NAVI GATIO N. AND ON TR OL . . . . . . . . . 8 .9 ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL SYSTE.! . . . . . . . . . . .i8.10 CONSUMABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .LUNAR SURFACE OPERATIONAL EQUIPbEYT . . . . . . . . . . . 9 .1 LUNAR ROVING VEHICLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2 LUNAR COMMUNICATIONS RELAY UN IT AND

GROUND COMNANDED TELEVISION ASSEMBLY . . . . . . . 9 . 3 EXTRAVEHICULAR MOBILITY UNIT . . . . . . . . . . . P I L O T S Rl3PORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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T RA I N I N G . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -10-1LAUNCH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-1EARTH ORBITAL FLIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-3TRANSLUNAR INJECTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-4TRANSLUNAR FLIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-4LUNAR ORBITAL OPERATIONS PRIOR TO DESCENT . . . . . 10-8


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Section Page10.7 POWERED DESCENT AND LANDING . . . . . . . . . . . 10-1110.8 LUNAR SURFACE OPERATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-1210.9 SOLO OPERATIONS I N LUNAR ORBIT . . . . . . . . . 10-3210.*10 ASC ENT , FENDEZVOUS. AND DOCKING . . . . . . . . . 10-3910.11 LUNAR ORBITAL OPERATIONS - POST-DOCKING TO

TRANSEARTH INJECTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10-4210.12 TRANSEARTH FLIGHT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19-4310.13 ENT RY, LANDIN G. AND RECOVERY . . . . . . . . . . 10-44

11 .0 BIOMEDICAL EVALUATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-111.1 BIOMEDICAL INSTRUMENTATION AND

PHYSIOLOGICAL DATA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-111 .2 MEDICAL OBSERVATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-1011.3 PHYSICAL EXAMINATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-161 1 . 4 VESTIBULAR FUNCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-161 1 . 5 SKYm MOBILE/LABORA TORIES OPER4TIONALITEST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11-17

1 2 . 0 MISSION SUPPORT PERFORMANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-11 2 . 1 FLIGHT CONTROL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-11 2 . 2 NETWORK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-212 .3 FBCOVERY OPERATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-3

13.0 ASSESSMENT OF M I S S I O N O B J E C T I V E S . . . . . . . . . . . . 13-11.4.0 LAUNCH PHASE SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-1

1 4 . 1 WEATHER CONDITIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14-114 .2 LAUNCH VEHICLE PERFORMANCE . . . . . . . . . . . 14-1

15.0 ANOMALYSUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15-11 5 . 1 COMMAND AND SERVICE MODUIX ANOMALIES . . . . . . 15-115.2 LUNAR MODULE ANOMALIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15-2115.3 GOVERNMENT-FURNISHED EQUIPM ENT ANOMALIES . . . . 15-2315.4 LUNAR SURFACE EQUIPMENT ANOMALIES . . . . . . . . 15-2515 . 5 ORBITAL EXPERIMENTS EQUIPMENT ANOMALIES . . . . . 15-34

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Sect ion1 6 . 0 CONCLUSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .APPENDIX A - VEH ICL E AND EQUIPMEW? DES CRI PTI ON . . . . . . . .

A . 1 COMMAND AND SE RV IC E MODULES . . . . . . . . . .A.2 LUNARMODULE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .A . 3 LUNAR SURFACE MOBILITY SYSTEMS . . . . . . . .A. 4 EXPERIMENT EQUIPMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . A. 5 PHOTOGRAPHIC TASKS AND QUI PIE NT . . . . . . . A . 6 MASS PRO PE RT I E S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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APPENDIX B - SPACECRAFT HISTORIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-1APPENDIX C - PO ST FL I G H T T E ST I N G . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C-1APPENDIX D - DATA AVAILABILITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D- 1APPENDIX E - MISSION 'REPORT SUPPLEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . E-1IAPPENDIX F - GLOSSARY' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F-1F 8 F E m C E S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R-1


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1-11.0 S W J t Y

Apollo 1 7 , t h e f i n a l Apollo mission, w a s launched a t 05:33:00 G . m . t .(12 33: 00 a .m. e .s .t. , December 7 , 1972 , from Launch Complex 39 a t t heKennedy Space Center.Cernan, Commander; Commander Ronald E . Evans, Command Module P i l o t ; andD r . Harrison H. Schmitt, Lunar Module Pilot.

The spacecraft was manned by Captain Eugene A.

The lau nch countdown had proceeded smoothly u n t i l T minus 30 seconds,This w a s the only launch

A s a, re-at which time a f a i l u r e i n th e automatic countdown sequencer occurred andcaused a launch delay of 2 hours and 40 minutes.delay i n the Apollo program t h at was ceilsed by hardware failure.su l t , the launch azimuth w a s a dj us te d a d a n ea rt h parking orbi t of 92.5-miles by 91.2-miles w a s achieved. The vehicle remained i n e a r t h o r b i tf o r approximately 3 hours before the t rv ls luna r in j ec t ion mmeuver wasin i t i a te d . The t rans luha r coas t t ime wzs shortened t o compensate f o r th elaunch delay. Tra nsp osit ion, docking, cnd lunar module e je ct io n were nor-m a l . The S-IVB s t a g e was maneuvered for lunar impact , which occurredabout 84 miles from th e pre-planned po izt .the Apol lo 1 2, 14 15 , and 1 6 passive seismometers.The impact w a s recorded by

The crew performed a heat flow and convection demonstration and anApollo l i g h t f l ash exper iment dur ing the t rans lunar coas t per iod .midcourse correction was performed t o achieve the des ired a l t i t ud e ofc los es t app roach t o the lu na r su r face .door w a s je t t isoned approximate ly 4 1 / 2 ho urs p r i o r t o l u n a r o r b i t i n s e r -t i o n . The Apollo 17 spacecraf t in i t ia t ; ted the lunar orbit insertion maneu-ver and entered in to a l7O-mile by 52.6-mile o r b i t .hours l a t e r , t h e command and se rv ic e module performed the f i r s t of twodescent or b i t in se r t io n maneuvers lowering the or b i t t o 59 by 14.5-miles.The command and service module and lunzr module s tayed i n th i s o rb i t about17 1/4 hours before undocking and separating.mand and s e rv ic e module o r b i t w a s c i r c u l a r i z e d t o 70 miles by 54 milesand the lunar module lowered i t s o r b i t t o 59.6-m iles by 6.2-miies by pe r-forming the second descent o r b i t inse rti on maneuver. From t h i s o r b i t , th elunar module in i t i a ted i t s powered descent and landed a t 20 degrees 9 min-u t e s 55 seconds nor th la t i tude , 30 degrees 45 minutes 57 seconds eas t lon-

OneThe s c i e n t i f i c instrument module

Approximately 4 1 /2

After undocking, the com-

\ I g i tude at 110:21:58.The f i r s t ex t raveh icu la r ac t i v i ty began a t about 114:22. The off-loading of the lunar roving vehicle and unstowage of equipment proceedednormally. The lunar surface experiment package w a s deployed approximately185 meters west northwest of the lunar module.rover t o th e exper iments package depl open t s ,i te and d r i l l ed the heat f lowand deep core holes and emplaced the neutron probe experiment. Two geo-log ic un i t s were sampled, two explosive packages were deployed and seven

The Commander drove the


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traverse gravimeter measurements were taken dur ing th e extravehicular ac-t iv i ty . About 31 pounds of samples were coll ecte d during th e 7 hour and12 minute ex t raveh icu la r ac t iv i ty .

The second extr ave hicu lar ac ti v it y began at about 137:55. The tra-verse w a s conducted with real-time modif icat ions t o s ta t i on s top timesbecause of geological in te re s t s . Orange s o i l w a s found and has been thesub ject of considerable geolog ical discussion. Five surface samples anda double-core sample were ta ke n at t h i s s i t e .were deployed, seven tra ve rs e gravim eter measurements were tak en, and a llobservations were photographed.th e lu na r module, and t h i s i s the greates t radia l d is tance any crew hastr av el ed away from t h e lu na r module on th e lunar surface. About 75 poundsof samples were ga thered during th e 7 hours 37 minutes of ext rav ehic ula ra c t i v i t y .

Three explosive packagesThe crew traveled 7370 meters away from

The th i r d ex t raveh icu la r ac t i v i ty began at about 160:53. Spec i f icsampling objectives were accomplished at s t a t i o n s 6 and 7 among some 3-t o 4-meter b ou lde rs . Nine t ra v e rs e gravimeter measurements were made.The surface e le ct r i ca l prop er t i es exper iment w a s termin ated because th ereceiver temperature w a s approaching the upper l imits of t he da ta t apeand the recorder w a s removed a t s t a t i o n 9 .A t the completion of i the t raverse , the crew selected a breccia rock,

- _- _. -. .Lwhich w a s dedicated t o na t ions represen ted by s tuden ts v i s i t in g th e Mis-s ion Control Center .

commemorating all Apollo lunar landings w a s then unveiled.amounting t o about 137 pounds were ob ta ined d ur ing t h e T-hour and 15-min-u t e t h i r d e xt r av e hi c ul a r a c t i v i t y f o r a t o t & of approximately 243 poundsf o r th e mission. The lun ar roving vehicle w a s driven about 36 kilometersd u ring t h e t h r e e e x t r av e h i cu l a r a c t i v i t i e s .e x t r a v e h i c u l a r a c t i v i t i e s w a s 22 hours and 04 minutes.

A plaque on th e landiog gear of th e lunar moduleSamples

The t o t a l t ime of the three

Numerous orbital science activit ies were conducted in.lunar orbitwhi le the lunar su r face w a s being explored. In addi t ion t o th e pvloramiccamera, th e mapping camera, and th e la se r d t i m et e r , thr ee new sc ie nt i f icinstru ment module experiments were inclu ded i n t h e Apollo 1 7 complementof orbi ta l sc ience equipment . An ultraviolet spectrometer measured lunaratmospheric density and composition, an infrered radiometer mapped thethermal ch ara cte r is t ic s of th e moon, and a lunar sounder acquired data onsubsu rface st ru ct ur e. The o r b i t a l scienc e experiments and cameras haveprovided a large amount of data for evaluat ing and analyzing the lunarsurface and the lunar environment.

The command and se rv i c e module o r b i t d id no t decay as predicted while'the lunar module w as on th e lu na r surface . Consequently, a s m a l l o r b i t a lt r i m maneuver w a s performed t o lower the o rb i t , and i n add i t ion , a plannedplane change maneuver w a s made i n prep arat ion fo r rendezvous...--


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Lunar ascent w a s i n i t i a t e d a f ' t e r 74 hours 59 minutes and 39 secondson th e luna r surface, and w a s fol lowed by a normal rendezvous and docking.Samples and equipment were t ra ns fe rr ed from th e a scen t s ta ge t o t he com-mand module, and t h e asc en t s ta g e w a s j e t t i soned fo r th e deorb it f i r i ng .The ascent stage impacted the l una r surface at 19 degrees 57 minutes 58seconds and 30 degrees 29 minutes 23 seconds about a mile f r o m the plannedt a r g e t .exper iments , af te r which t ranse ar th in ject ion w a s i n i t i a t e d .An addi t ional day w a s spent i n lunar orbi t performing sc i en t i f i cA 1-hour and 6-minute tr an se ar th extravehicular a ct iv it y w a s conduc-t e d by t h e Command Module P il o t t o r et ri ev e t h e f i l m casse ttes from thescientif ic instrument module bay.fl as h experiment and operated th e infra red radiometer and ul tr av io le tspectrometer during the transearth phase.performed during t h i s phase.

The crew performed t h e Apollo l i g h tOne midcourse correction w a s

Entry and lan din g were normal. The command module landed i n thePacific Ocean west of H a w a i i , about 1mile from t h e planned loc ati on.The Apollo 1 7 mission las ted 301 hours, 51 minutes, and 59 seconds. TheApollo 17 mission thus brought t o a clo se th e Apollo Program, one of t hemost ambitious and successful endeavors of man.


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2.0 INTRODVCTION

The Apollo 1 7 mission w a s t he f i n d mission i n th e Apollo program.The mission accomplished th e s ix th lu oar la nding and al so completed th ese r i e s o f t h ree o rb i t a l- s c i ence -o r i en ted m is si ons.The Lunar Module P i l o t w a s t h e f i r s t Scient i s t -Ast ronaut assigned-. t o an American manned s p ac e fl ig ht mission. H i s academic background in-cludes a Doctorate i n Geology, and he has pa rt ic ip at ed i n many uniquegeo l og i ca l ac t i v i t i e s . He w a s se l ec t ed as a Scien t is t -Ast ronaut i nJune , 1 9 6 5 , and t h i s w a s followed by e y ea r of f l i g h t t r a i n i n g . H i sf i r s t mission assignment w a s as the bzckup L u n a r Module Pilot for

Apollo 1 5 . In 1972, he w a s assigned es t he prime Lunar Module P i l o tfor the Apol lo 17 mission.The vehicle configurat ion w a s s i d l a r t o those of Apol lo 1 5 and 1 6 .There were s ig n i f i c an t d i f fe re nces i n the sc i ence pay load f or Apollo 17.Spa cec raf t hardware d if fe re nc es and eq er im en t equipment ar e describedi n Appendix A.

. . The mission achieved a lan din g i n the Taurus-Litt row region of th emoon and r et u rn e d samples of th e pre-Inbrium h ighla nds and young c r a t e r s .An assessment o f th e !mission obj ect ive s i s presen t ed i n s ec t i on 13.. ,_ -

This re por t pr ima ri ly provides information of th e ope rat ion al andengineer ing aspec t s o f the miss ion .launch vehic le performance a re r eported i n referenc es 1 and 2 , respec-t i v e l y .wi th in the t ime frame of t he p repa ra t ion of t h i s r epo r t .port supplements w i l l be published as necessary.r e p o r t s and g i v es t h e i r s t a t u s , e i t h e r pu bl is he d or i n p repa ra ti on .

P re li mi na ry s c i en t i f i c r e su l t s andA complete analysis of all aapl i cab le data i s not possibleTherefore, re-Appendix E l i s t s t h e

Stand ard Engl ish un it s of measure2ent a r e used i n t hose sec t ions oft he r epo r t pe r t a i n i ng t o spacec r a f t systems and t r a j ec t o r i e s .nat ional System of Units (SI) i s used i n s ec t i ons pe r t a i n i ng t o s c i encea c t i v i t i e s .t ime from range zero ( es tab l i s he d as t he i n t eg ra l s econd be fo re l i f t -o f f ) ,and does no t re f l ec t t he time update shown i n ta b l e 3-1. Mileage i s giveni n na u t i ca l mi l es and weight i s r eferenced t o ea r t h g rav i t y .

The Inter-.Unless otherwise specified, t ime i s expressed as elapsed


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3.0 TRAJECTORY

The b a s i c t r a j e c t o r y p r o f i l e f o r t h i s m is sio n w a s similar t o t h a tplanned fo r t he Apol lo 1 6 mission.tho se requi r ed t o reach th e Taurus-Li tt row landing s i t e , were those re-quir ed because of a night launch, translunar i n j e c t i o n be in g i n i t i a t e dover th e At la nt i c Ocean r at he r than th e Pa ci f ic Ocean, descent or bi t in-s er t i o n being performed i n two maneuvers r at he r than one, and the el imin-a t ion of the or b i t shaping maneuver and the s a t e l l i t e j e t t i s on i ng event .The sequence and de f in it io n of even ts for the Apol lo 17 mission are showni n t a b le s 3-1 and 3-11. Tables 3-111 and 3-IV con ta in t h e l i s t i ng andde f i n i t i on o f t r a j e c t o ry pa ram et er s, and t ab l e 3-V contains a summary o fthe maneuvers.

The major differences, aside from

3.1 LAUNCH AND TRANSLUNAR TRAJECTORIES

The l aunch t ra j ec tory i s presented i n reference 3. The launch a z i -muth w a s updated from 72 degrees e as t of north t o 91 degrees 30 minutesea s t of nor th . The t ra ns l una r in j ec t ion d i f fe re d from the or ig in a l p l anbecause of a 2-hour 40-minute launch de lay. T h is de l ay r e su l t ed i n t hetr an sl un ar coa st t ime \bein g shortened (zccomplished automatically by t helaunch vehicle guidanie system), so t h a t t h e a r r i v a l tim e a t t h e moonwould remain t h e same as that planned prelaunch.ar r i v al plan s im pl i f ied th e crew t ra in in g by providing them wi th only onelu na r l i g h ti n g condit ion and one s e t of luna r groundtracks with which theyhad t o become familiar, r e s u l t i n g i n a si ng le s e t of condit ions on whichth e crew could concent rat e th e i r t r a in in g .

3 -I .-. .. .This constant t i m e of

One tr an sl un ar midcourse cor rect ion of 10 .5 f t / s e c w a s required andperformed a t the second opt ion point .door w a s j e t t i so ned abou t 4 1 / 2 hours p r i o r t o l una r o rb i t i n se r t i on .The sc i e n t i f i c instrument module

3.2 S-IVB STAGE

Separat ion from the S-IVB stage and the S-IVB evasive maneuver werecompleted normally.f i r i n g s of th e au xi l ia ry propulsion system. L u n a r impact occurred approx-imately 87 hours in to th e miss ion at 4 degrees 1 2 minutes south la t i tu d eand 1 2 degrees 18 minutes west longitu de, about 84 miles from the plannedta r ge t po in t . The impact w a s recorded by th e pa ss ive seismometers at t h efour lun ar sur face exper iment s t a t i ons . Figure 3-1 shows the locat ion oft h e S-IVB impact on the lunar surface.

The S-IVB s t age was ta rg et ed f o r lunar impact by two


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3-2

Elapsed timeH r :min :se c00 oo: 00.600:11:5303 12 3703 2 :2903:56:4504:45 0035:30:0065 0 :0081 2 086:14:2386:59:4190 31 7107:47 56109:17:29109 :22 42110 09 3110 21 57114:21:49121:33 42137 5:06145:32:02160 52 48168: 7 :56178:54:05179 54185 21 37185 2:12186:15 58187 37 5191 18 1191 23 1192:58:14193:17 21234 02 9254 54 :40256:00 24298 8 013O1:23 :49301: 8 :383 1 38 5301:42:15301:46 20301 :46:22301 7 :13301 1:59

117:21 oo

.a-". .' . ..

TABLE 3-1.- SEQUENCE OF EVENTS

EventsLif t-o ff (Range zero = 342:05:33:00 G.m.t.)E ar th o r b i t i n s e r t i o nTranslunar injection maneuverS-IVB/command and se rv ice module se pa ra ti onTranslunar dockingSpacecraf t e ject ionFirst midcourse correctionMission control center t ime update (+2:40 OO)Sc ie nt i f ic ins t rument module door je t t i so nLunar orb i t i ns e r t onS-IVB lunar impactDescent or bi t inser t ionLunar module undocking and separationCircularization maneuverLunar module descent orbit insert ionPowered descent ini t ia t ionLunar landingS t a r t f i r s t e x t r a ve h i c u l a r a c t i v i t yApollo lunar surface experiment package f i r s t dataEnd f i r s t e x t r a ve h i c u l a r a c t i v i t yS ta r t s econd ex t ravehidula r ac t iv i tyEnd second extrave hicu lar ac t i vi tyS t a r t t h i r d e x tr av e hi cu l ar a c t i v i t yEnd th i r d ex t ravehicu la r ac t iv i t yO r b i t a l t r i m maneuverPlane changeLunar ascentLunar module vernier adjustment maneuverTerminal phase ini t ia t ionDockingLunar module jettisonSeparation maneuverLunar module deorbit firingLunar module impactTransear th in jec t ionS t a r t t r a ns e a r t h e x tr a ve h i cu l a r a c t i v i t yEnd t ransea r th ex t ravehicu la r ac t iv i t ySecond midcourse correctionCommand module/service module separationE n tr y i n t e r f a c e (400 000 f e e t )Begin blackoutEnd blackoutForward hea t sh i e ld j e t t i so nDrogue deploymentMain parachute deploymentLanding


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3-3

TABLE 3-11.- DEFINITION OF EVENTS

Events-Range zeroLift-off

E a rt h o r b i t i n s e r t i o n

Translunar in jec tio n Paneuver

S-IVB/canmand module separation, translunardocking , s pacec ra f t e j e c t ion , s c i en t i f i c in-strument module door je tt is on , l una r moduleundocking and sepa rat ion , dock ing, lun ar mod-ule J e t t i s o n , and lunar landingSpacecraf t maneuver in i t ia t ion

S-IVB l una r inpac tBeginning of extraveh icular ac t iv i t y

End of extravehicular ac t iv i t y

Apollo lunar surface experiment package f i r s tda ta I

Command module/senrice module separationEn t ry in t e r face

Begin blackout

End blackout

Forward heat shi e ld j e t t i so n, drogue deploy-ment, and main parachute deploymentEarth landing

Time update

Defini t ionFinal in tegra l second before l i f t - o f fTime of ins t rumenta t ion uni t umbilical Cisconnectas i nd ica ted by l aunch veh ic l e t e l ene t r jS-IVB engine cutoff t ime plus 10 secxds as i nd i -ca ted by launch vehicle t e lenet r jSt ar ts when tank discharge valve ocens, a l l o w i n s-%el t o be pumped t o th e S-IVE engineTne t k e of the event based on aneljsis of timingda ta on air-to-ground voice trsn scri pzic ns

Eugine cn time as indica ted by onboard c d f o rground computersTime based upon loss of s ignal 5 - 0 3 t e l e z e t r yme t i r e cabin pressure reaches 3 g s i s d-A-ingdepressurizat ion indic ated by tele=e'.rf dataTne tile cabin pressure reaches 3 p s i a & r i n gzepressurfza t ion indica ted by te1m ey.- *etaThe receipt o f f i r s t d a t a c on si de re d v d i d f r c nt h e Awllo lunar surface experinents gackaget eleDetzyThe t i=e of separa t io n indica ted by loss oftelemetry dat a from serv ice moduleThe t i=e t he connand module reaches a geodetica l t i t u d e of 400 000 feet indica ted by grsund radart rack ing da taTne t ine of S-band cclmrmnication is 10s'. duringen t ryThe t i -e of acquis i t io n of S-band c c m i c a t i o n sfollok-hg blackoutT h e of f i r s t telemetry i nd ica t ion of systemec tue t ion by t he re l ayThe t k e t he s pacec ra f t w a s observed t o touchth e wa terA give= increment of time change made t o onboardt imers tha t sets timers t o f l i g h t p la n time.


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ReferencebadyEvent

Space-fixed conditions

t t l s e c angle. deg deg E oi ATine. Latitude. Longit&, *Irit&e,hr:min:s ec deg:min deg:dzz lile Velocity Flight-path Eeadiw mgle,

53.86 Y31.68 B

162.b13 393.6

6.911761.80

118.011083.U5

22.82 Y22.82 Y69.50 Y

2 3 c1.12 2U.gc 70.6

Second midcourse w a c t i o nI sn i t i o nCutoff Earth 298:38:01Earth 298:38:10 78.b9 t'18.46 E 25 Ol6.3 12 021.1 -68.b) 9 . 6 3Zb 999.7 12 025.8 -68.42 34.63

b t r yb a n g Earth 301:38:38 0.71 I 173.3b Y 65.6 36 W.3 -6.@ 156.53Earth 3)1:51:59 lT.88 S 166.U Y - - - -

.. . ., - . . .. . .. . . _ . .. , . ..,.. ~ , . .. .- . c .... , - .. ... . -

3-1;

TABLE 3-111. TIWECTORY PARAMF,TERSa

Translunar PhMeTranslunar in jec t ic a cu to ff

module eJection from S-IYBCommand and service modulellunar

First midcourse correctionIgn i t ionc u t o f tScientific instrument ueduled w r j e t t is o n

EarthEarth

EarthEarthMoon

03:18:2804 45 :00

35:M:OO35 :30:0281:3?:40

5.14 N21.91 S

11.04 s17.04 s0 . 4 N

~ 35 589.616 012.8

b058.14066.83114 .6

16.bo 66.1176.48-79.90 258.16

ILunar orb it phase

MoonMoon

MoonMoonMmn

MmnMoon

MoonMoonMoonMmnMoon

MmnMoonMmnMoonMmn

MoonWon

MoonMon

11.33 S6.81 s11.40 su . 0 6 s5.02 S

20.03 S20.02 s19.22 S19.12 S19.13 A12.31 S12.01 N21.91 N22.54 N15.12 S21.8119.41 N

0 . 2 b S2.02 1119.65 821.52 S

117.38 0151.a 3164.16 3163 .a 3135.91 3

149.11 Y149.30 Y165.18 Y166.n Y48.75 3

124.26 357.38 Y19.60 E8.22 E

129.53 Ya . b o Y3.23 386.97 E81.68 E

170.02 Y119.69 Y

16.851.251.150.941.2

58.658.859.659.68. 1

G. 960.58. 09.k

hb.660.660.660.558.962.163.1

8110.25512.15512.15322.15342.8

5219.95349.95214. 552667.05550.35315.15341.155'12.3559.75333.353kl.T5343.b53b3.15133.15331.18314.3

-9.900.k3-0.39-0.89-1.26

0.450.470.040.02-0.90.08

-0.001

0 . 90.540.290.030.03

-0.03-2.14-0.182116

213.10288.89286.502ffi.w269.k1

210.13210.11275 .7k216.6216.07285.74250.09271.58213.2k252.U262.1b282.69293.ll293.61251.32259.41

Lunar orbit insertinn1e;litioncutoffFirst descent orhit insertion1gr.itioncutoffCommand and se rvi ce moduleflunarmodule separationC o m d and serv ice modulec i r c u l a r i r a t i a nIgn i t ioncutoffSecond descent orb it inserti onI a t i o ncu tof fPwered descen t in i t ia t ionCr b i t a l t r i m m e u v e r i g n i t i onCommand and ser vi ce moduleplane change (cutoff]

Ascent ( insertion)Vernier a41w m n t w e u v e rTerminal phase initiationmckingLunar mduls JettiaanLunar aodule ascent stag e deorbiiIgn i t ionc u t o r rTranslunar n j e c t i o nIgn i t ioncu tof f

86:1b:2386:20:5650:31:3150:3:59107 h7 : 6

109:11:291?9 :17 331d9:22:421?9:23:04ll0:09:53178:54:05179: 546 4185:28:56185: P :12186:15:58181:31:15191:18:3192:58:14193: 0:1029:02:09234:Ob 33

rnsearth 1

45.61 1145.68 A

%ee t a b l e 3-N lor t r a Je c t o r y p a r m t e r d e f i n i t i o n .


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TABLE 3-1v.- DEFINITION OF TRAJECTORY AND ORBITAL PARAMETERS

Trajectory parametersGe ode t ic l a t i tude

Selenographic la t i tude

Longitude

Al t i tude

Space-fixed velocity

iSpace-fixed fli ght -pa th angle

Space-fixed heading angle

Apogee

Perigee

Apoc ynt hi on

Pericynthion

Period

Inc l ina t ion

Longitude of th e ascending node

De f in i t ionThe sp her ica l coordinat e measured alo ng a meridian ont h e e a r t h f r o n t h e eq ua to r t o the po in t d i r e c t ly be-neath th e spacecr aft, deg:minThe de f in i t ion i s th e same as tha t o f the ge odet ic l a t i -tude except that the reference body i s th e moon ra th ertha n the earth, deg:minThe spheric al coordinate, as measured in th e equa tor ia lplane , between th e plane of t h e reference body's primemeridian and the plane of the spacecraft meridim, degThe distance measured between the spacecraft end the ref-erence radius of the ear th a long a l i n e f rom t h e c e n t e r ofth e e a r th t o the spac e cra ft .the moon, it i s the dist ance measured f r o m the spa c e c raf ta long the local ve r ti c al . t o th e su r fa c e o f a sphere havinga r a d ius e qual t o the d i s ta nc e from t h e c e n te r o f t h e m o nt o t h e l an di ng s i t e , fX o r milesMagnitude of th e in er t i a l ve loc i ty vec tor re fe renced t oth e body-centered, in er ti al reference coordinate system,f t / s e cF li gh t- pa th a p e measured positive upward f rom the body-c e nte re d loc e l hor iz on tal p lane to th e in e r t i a l ve loc i tyvec tor , degAngle of the projec t ion of th e in er t i a l ve loc i ty vec toronto th e body-centered local. ho riz on tal plan e, measuredpo si ti ve eastward from no rth , degThe point of r e x i m u = ! orb i ta l a l t i tude o f the spa c e c ra f tabove the center of the earth, milesThe po in t o f n i n imu or b i t a l a l t i tu de o f t he spe c ec raf tabove the cente r of th e ear th , milesThe point of n a x i m u c ! orb i ta l a l t i t ude above th e zoon asmeasured f ro= th e redius of th e lunar landing s i te , mil esme poin t of ninimun or bi ta l a l ti tu de above th e noon asmeasured fros the r a d ius of the luna r l a nd ing s i t e , m i le s

When t h e ref ere nc e body i s

Time required fo r spacecraft t o comple te 360 degrees ofo r b i t r o t a t i o n , minThe true angle between the Spacecraft orbit plme andth e reference body's equat ori al plane, degThe longi tude a t which th e orb it plane crosses th e ref-erence body's equ ato ri al plane going fYom th e Southernt o th e Northern Hentisphere, deg


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. .._.

s y s t ~ Igni t ion t iae ,Maneuver hr:min:sec

T r a ? s h ? a r i d e c t i o n 6-IVB 3 l 2 : 7F i r s t ddcouroe cor- Service propulsion 35'30:OOr ec t l o n

3-6

Resultant pericynthion conditionsFi r ing time, " ~ & ~se c nlsec L-.ir.ie. Veloci ty, Lat itud e, Longi?ade. Arrival t i = ,5 1 e s f t l sec deg:n in deg . d i kr:win:sec

351.0 10 376.0 - 8393 10:21 S 1 7 3 : s E 83:110:521.7 10.5 52.1 8203 9% S 159:k8 Z 83:38:1L

TABLE 3-V.- MANEWER SUMMARY

Servfce propulsionService propulsion

Beaction control

86 : 4 23sQ:u:37

107:47:56

(b) Lunar or bit

5961.5

Ik7euver

> m ar o rb i t i n s e r t i o nFirst descent orb i ti n s e r t i o nConnand and servicemodule separationLunar orb i t c i rcu lar izat ionSecond descent orbiti n s e r t i o nPowered descent in it ia t i onO rb i t a l t r i mLunar orb it al plane changeAscentV er n ie r a u s t m e n t m e u v e rTerminal giase i n i t i a c i o nSepara tion maneuver

1k.5l l . 5

Lunar madule deorbitmeuve:

TO59.6

67.362.848.5

48.56L.763.9

Ig n i t i o n time,System hr min:sec

5'16.2

62.j62.5

9. 19 . i

L6.561.2

E. 5

725x.323.1

L k l10

Service p-opulsionLunar mdule reactioncont ro lDescent propulsion?+action controlSennce pmpul$ionAscent propulsionFeaction controlAscent propulsion3eaction control3eact ion cont r o l

I

7.56698

9.26 6

6075.71 0

109 17:29109:22:42ll0:09:53178:5h:05179: 53:5&185:21:3l185 :P : lZ186:15:58191:23:3l19 2: 8 :l b

System ~g ni t i on i m e , F i r i n g t i m e . ch=,g.br:pin:sec sec lsecvent

39% 222.3-.- I 2

Pesultan t en t ry in terface conj i t ion.:____--=-. Velocity, Lati tude, Longitude, A-dval t i n t ,c g e . ieei f t l s e c deg:nin deg:dn hr:li.n:sec

j.l 1. 03 1 70.5

Transe aeh inJect ion Serv ice propuls ion 234:02:09 lb3.7 30b6.3 I - 6 . 3 36 093 2:09 N 173:83 Y U1:38:13

3.1 I 53.8

Second l idcours e

I

Reaction control 298:38:01 9 2.1 G . 3 36 090 0:4b N 173:20 W 331:38:32


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3-7


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3-83.3 LUNAR ORBIT

3.3.1 Orbital PhaseThe luna r o rb i t insert ion maneuver placed the Spacecraft into an or-b i t h av in g a 170-mile apocynthion and a 52.6-mile pericynthion.four hours l a t e r , t h e spacecraf t o rb i t was lowered t o one having a 59-mileapocynthion and a 14.5-mile peric ynthio n. After spending 1 7 hours i n t h i slower o r b i t , t h e command and s er vi ce module s epa rat ed from th e lu na r mod-ul e a f t e r which th e command and se rv ice module o r b it was cir cu lar ize d i n t oone having a 70-mile apocynthion and a 54-mile pericynthion.

About

3.3.2 DescentFive minutes a f t e r t he circularizat ion maneuver w a s i n i t i a t ed by t hecommand and service module, the lunar module performed the second descentorbi t insert ion maneuver . This lowered i t s pericynthion t o wi thin 6.2 mi -l e s of t h e lunar sur face . An hour later, the lunar module powered descentw a s i n i t i a t e d a n d t h e lunar module landed on the moon a t 110 hours 21 min-u tes 58 seconds.ea rl y i n the powered descent .

the spacecraf t l and ing at 20 degrees 9 minutes 55 seconds north lat i tudeand 30 degrees 45 minutes 57 seconds east longitude on the 1:25 000-scaleL u n a r Topographic Photomap of Taurus Littrow, First Edition, September,1972.

A manual target update of 3400 feet w a s incorporated_ .La te r i n th e descent maneuver, th e Commandermade eig ht landing poin t redesignatio ns. These redes ignation s res ul t ed i n . _

3.3.3 Ascent and RendezvousThe planned decay of th e command and ser vic e module a lt i tu d e t omatch the lunar module t rajectory at rendezvous w a s not real ized.was s imilar t o th e exper ience of th e Apollo 1 5 mission.an o r b i t a l t r i m maneuver was performed t o change t h e command and se rvic emodule ap ocynthion t o 67.3 miles and the pericynthion t o 62.5 m iles. Anh o u r l a t e r , a plane change maneuver was perforned t o provide the propero rb i t a l plane f or rendezvous wi th the lunar wdule .

ThisBecause of t h i s ,

The lunar module ascended from the lunar surface a t 185 hours 21 min-utes 37 seconds a f t e r having been on the lun ar s urfac e f o r almost 75 hours.Approximately 7 1/2 minutes l a t e r , t h e ascen t s tage was i n se r t ed i n t o l u -n a r o r b i t .10 f t / s ec t o re tu rn the or b i t t o the p lanned condit ions fo r rendezvous.The rendezvous w a s then completed normally, and th e two vehi cle s weredocked a t 187 hours 37 minutes 1 5 seconds.The achieved orbi t required a vernier adjustment maneuver of


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3-9

3.3.4 Lunar Module Deorbit ManeuverThe lunar module w a s je t t i soned four hours af'ter docking. The lunarmodule deorbit maneuver began about an hour and a h a l f a f t e r j e t ti s o n in gand impact occurred a t 19 degrees 57 minutes 58 seconds north la t i tude,and 30 degrees 29 minutes 23 seconds east longitude, about 9.9 kilom-e t e r s from the Apollo 17 landing s i te , and about 1.75 kilometers fromth e planned impact point (f ig s . 3-1 and 4-1).

3.4 TRANSEARTH AND E N T R Y TRAJECTORY

The command and se rv ic e module reaai ned i n lu nar o r b i t approx imatelyThe t ranse art h inject i on3 hours a f te r th e lu nar module w a s je t t i soned.maneuver was initiated a t 234 hours 2 minutes 9 seconds. The maneuverw a s so accurate that only one midcourse correction w a s required duringt rans ear th c oas t , and th a t w a s a t t h ree hours p r io r t o en t ry with a d i f -f e r e n t i a l v e l o c i t y o f 2 . 1 f t / s e c .The command and service modules were separated 1 5 minutes beforeen t ry i n t o the ea r th ' s a tmosphere . The command module entered the at-mosphere 1200 miles from th e l and ing point and th e la ndi ng occurred1.3 miles short of the; tar ge ted point . The ea rth landing coordinates,as determined from the spacecraft computer, were 17 degrees 52 minutes48 seconds south la t i t ud e and 166 degrees 6 minutes 36 seconds westlongitude.


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4.0 LUNAR SURFACE SCIENCE

The Apollo lu na r su rfa ce experiments package f o r th i s mission con-s is te d of th e heat f low experiment, th e lunar seismic pro fi l ing experi -ment, t h e lun ar atmospheric composition experiment, t he lu na r e je ct a andmeteorites experiment, and the lunar surface gravimeter experiment. Otherlunar surface experiments included the traverse gravimeter experiment , thesurfac e e l e c t r ic a l pro per t ies experiment, the lun ar neut ron probe experi -ment , the cosmic ray detector experiment , the lunar geological invest iga-t io n , and th e s o i l mechanics experiment.Descriptions of the experiment equipment or ref ere nce s t o documentsi n which th e de sc ri pt io ns may be found ar e containe d i n Appendix A.

comprehensive discussion of the prel iminary sc ie nt i f ic re su l t s of themission ar e contained i n reference 1.A

4 . 1 SUMMARY OF LUNAR SURFACE ACTIVITIES

The landing point w a s i n a cratered valley between two massifs.Figure 4 -1 i s a panoramic camera photograph of th e Tauru s-Littrow l andin gs i t e .s i t e p ro vid ed a valuablle a ss et i n th e explorat ion of the lunar su rface.The crew completed three periods of ext ravehicu la r a c t iv i t y dur ing the75 hours on th e surf ace . The events of each of th e th re e period s aresummarized i n t a b le 4-1 and the rou tes t r ave rsed ar e shown i n figu re 4-2.The arrangement of the experiment equipment i s shown i n f ig ur e 4-3. Morede t a i l ed desc r i pt i ons o f t he l una r su rf ace ac t i v i t i e s are provided i nsections 4.12 and 10.8.

The variety of itopographic features at the Taurus-Littrow landing

4.2 APOLLO LUNAR SURFACE EXPERIMENTS PACKAGE CENTRAL STATION

The s i t e se l ec t ed fo r deployment of the Apollo lunar surface exper-iments package w a s located approximately 185 meters west northwest (bear-i ng o f 287O) of the lun ar module ( f i g . 4-3). During prepar at ions f o r thet r a v e r s e , t h e L u n a r Module P i l o t had d if fi c u lt y removing th e dome fromthe fue l cask where the fue l capsu le i s stowed. In se r ti on of th e dome-removal t o o l and dome ro ta ti on t o th e unlocked pos itio n went smoothly;however, t h e to o l ex t rac t ion p u l l resu l t ed i n a separat ion of the toolfrom th e dome.w a s pried from the cask.anomaly. )t he genera tor w a s completed normally.ment s i t e , one of t h e two c en t ra l s t a t ion l eve l ing blocks w as knockedoff ; however, th i s did not adversely affe ct the deployment.

Using the ch is el end of the geological hammer, the dome(Sect ion 15.4.4 contains a discussion of thisRemoval of t he f u e l capsule from the cask and i n s t a l l a t i o n i nDuring the tra ve rse t o the deploy-


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4-2

TABLE 4-1.- LUNAR SURFACE EXTRAVEHICULAR ACTIVITY EVENTS&

Elapsed t i m e ,h r :min : ec144 5 : 8

144:32:24145 :l9 :24145 32 :02

160:52:48161:02: 0161 6 : 5161 9: 5161 0 : 7161 6:31

1 6 ~ 4 26162 u.:24

163 :22 1O163:29:0516 1: 916 7

164 : 3

EventDeparted for t h e lunar module with a shor t s top t odeploy seismic profiling experiment explosivecharge 8 documented with photographs, and a s topa t the lunar surface experiments s i t e t o a llo wthe Lunar Module Pilot to relevel the lunar sur-face gravimeter experiment.Arrived a t the lunar module and s ta rt ed extravehic-ular ac t iv i ty c loseou t .Traverse gravimeter experiment reading obtained .Lunar module cabin repressurized.

Third Extravehicular ActivityBeginning of t h i r d extravehicular ac t iv i ty .Traverse ;gra vim eter experiment rea ding obtained .Lunar roving vehi cle loaded fo r tr av er se , and per-Traverse gravim eter experiment reading obtained.Cosmic ray experiment retrieved.Departed f o r sur face e l ec t r i c a l p roper t i es experi -Arrived a t surface e lect r ica l proper t ies exper iment

formed panoramic and 500-mm photography.

ment site.s i t e . Activated th e experiment, gathered samples ,and performed documentary photography.Depar ted for s ta t ion 6 with two short stops t o gatherenr out e samples .Arrived at s t a t i o n 6.obtained, gathered samples including a single coretube sample and a rake sample, and performed docu-mentary, panoramic, and 500-mm photography.

Traverse gravimeter reading

Depar ted for s ta t ion 7.Arrived at s t a t i o n 7.documentary and panoramic photography.Depar ted for s ta t ion 8 with one sho r t s top t o gatherenroute samples .Arrived at s t a t i o n 8. Two tr av ers e gravimeter ex-periment readings obtained, gathered samples in-cluding rake and trench samples, and performeddocumentary and panoramic photography

Gathered samples and performed

Depar ted for s ta t ion 9.


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4-3

TABLE 4-1 .- LUNAR SURFACE EXTRAVEHICULAR ACTIVITY EVENTS -Continued

Elapsed time,hr:min:sec165 :13 :10

166:09:25

166 : 7 : 1166 : 5 :og167:11:11167:33: 8167 : 6 : 3167 :39 : 7167: 4 : 1168: 7 : 6

EventArrived at s t a t i o n 9. Seismic profiling experimentexplosive charge 5 deployed, two traverse gravim-e t e r experiment readings obtained, gathered sam-ples inc lud ing a trench sample and a double core-

tube sample, and performed documentary, panoramic,and 500-mm photography. Removed dat a st or ag e el ec -t ro nic s assembly from surface e l ec t r ic a l proper t ie srece iver .one t o ga the r enroute samples and th e othe r t odeploy seismic profiling experiment explosivecharge 2 and perform documentary and panoramicphotography.Arrive? at lunar module md started extravehiculara c t i v i t y c lo s eo u t.Traverse gravimeter experiment reading obtained.

Final traverse gravimeter experiment reading obtainedApollo lunar surface experiments package photographyLunar neutron probe experiment retrieved.Lunar roving ve hicl e pos itioned t o monitor lunar mod-Seismic pr of il in g experinent explosive charge 3Lunar module cabin repressurized.

Departed for the lunar module with two short stops,

completed .ule ascent .deployed.


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4-4TABLE 4-1.- LUNAR SURFACE EXTRAVEHICULAR ACTIVITY EVENTS -

Continued

Elapsed t i m e ,h r :min:sec Event

137 : 5 : 6138 :04 : 8138 9 : 0138 : 4 : 213 8: 47 :05138 : 1 43140 :0 1:30

141 7 :25

141 8 :38

142 :25 : 6142 :42 : 7

143: 9 : 3143:45 :15

Second Extravehicular Activity ~- ~Beginning of second ext ravehicular act ivi ty .Traverse g ravimeter experiment r eadin g obtained.Lunar roving vehicle loaded fo r t raver se and a

t ra ve rs e gravimeter experiment rea ding obtained.Depar ted fo r sur face e l e c t r i ca l p roper t i es exper i-ment si te.Arrived at sur face e l ec t r i c e l p roper t ies exper i-ment s i t e . Activated experiment, gathered sam-ples, and performed panormic photography.Departed for s t a t i o n 2 with four short stops; onet o deploy seismic pro fi l in g experiment explosivecharge 4, and three t o gzther enroute samples.Arrived at s t a t i o n 2. Traverse gravimeter experi-ment r e k n g obtained, gathered samples includinga rake sample, and perforned documentary and pan-oramic photography.Departed for s ta t ion 3 with one s top t o obtain atr av er se gravimeter experiment reading, gathersamples, and perform panoramic and 500-mm pho-tography. Traverse gravimeter experi-ment reading obtained, gathered samples includinga double core-tube sample and a rake sample, andperformed panoramic and 500-mm photography.Depar t ed for s t a t ion 4 with two sho rt s tops t ogather enroute samples.Arrived at s t a t i o n 4.ment reading obtained, gathered samples includinga trench sample and a double core-tube sample, andperformed documentary and panoramic photography.Depar t ed for s t a t ion 5 with one stop t o deploy seis-mic p r o f il in g experiment exp losive charge 1, gathersamples, and perform panoramic photography.Traverse gravimeter experimentread ing o btaine d, gathe red samples, and performeddocumentary and panoramic photography.

Arrived a t s t a t i o n 3.

Traverse gravimeter experi-

Arrived at s t a t i o n 5.


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, ..

Elapsed time,h r :min : ec

.-._ .....

Event

.

Concluded

114 21: 49115 :13:50114 1 l o

1 1 5 :40 :58115 0 : 11 15 :54 :40115 8 : 0116:11:541 1 6 : 6 : 7118 07 : 3116 :06 :01

1 1 8 3 27U 8 : 4 3 :08119 11:02119 4 : 2

119 56 :4 7

120:11:2

120: 3: 9120: 6 :151 2 1 16 : 71 2 1: 1:ll121:33:42

c

4-5

F i r s t E x t ravehiculzr Act ivi tyBeginning of f i r s t ex t raveh icu la r ac t iv i ty .Lunar roving vehicle offloaded.Lunar roving veh icle deployed, t e s t d rive performedand documented with photography, gather ed san ple sand performed 500-m and panoramic photography.United States flag deDloyed and documented with pho-tograp hs and ste reo photography.Traverse gravimeter experiment reading obtained.Cosmic ray experiment deployed.Apollo lunar surface experiment package offloaded.Traverse gravimeter experiment reading obtained .Traverse gravimeter experiment reading obtained.Traverse gravimeter experiment reading obtained.Apollo lunar surface experiments package deploymentc4mpleted and documented wi th photograph s and pan-oramic photography.Deep core sample obtained and lunar neutron probe

experiment deployed.Traverse gravimeter eceriment reading obtained.Departed for s t a t i o n 1.Arrived a t s t a t i o n 1 uld deployed seismic profil ingexperiment explosive charge 6 , obtained t ravers egravimeter experiment reading, and documented rakesamples and performed panoramic photography.Depar ted for surface e le ct r i ca l proper t ies experi -ment s i t e wi th a s top t o deploy.se ismic pr of i l in gexperiment explosive charge 7 , and perform pano-ramic photography.Arrived a t surface e le ct r i ca l proper t ies exper iments i t e .gathered samples, and performed documentary andpanoramic photography. Traverse gravim eter exp eri-ment reading obtained.

Deployed antennas and the transmitter,

Departed f o r the lunar module.Arrived a t lunar module and started extravehicularTraverse gravimeter experiment reading obtained.Traverse gravimeter experiment reading obtained.Lunar module cabin repressurized.

a c t i v i t i e s c l o s e o u t .

aA l l times are completion times unless otherwise noted.


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i

4-7

cInlI


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4- 8

Deep core and neutron probe37.7 meters (from radioisotopethermoelectric generator)Hea t flow experiment7 -5.7 meters

Probe 1Lunar seismic profilingexperiment antenna 12.3 meters

Lunar surface gravimeter

7.8 meteLunar seismic profilingexperiment geophone module

Geophone 2iIi

i 26.6 meterNGeophone 31

-d eophone 147.2 metersLunar module(approximately 18 5 meters)

4.4 meters

-Geophone 4

Figure 4-3 .- Apollo lunar surface experiments packageand neutron probe deployment.

. .. . .


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4-9During the antenna alignment, centering of the east /west bubble levelw a s d i f f i cu l t , and nea r t he end of t h e t h i r d e x tr a v eh i cu l ar a c t i v i t y , t h e

antenna le v e l s et t i ng s were rechecked.the east edge and the north/south bubble was centered, and no changes weremade.s i gna l s t r eng t h du r i ng t he lunar l i b ra t ion cyc le , bu t it w i l l not impactsystem commands or th e t ransmission and receptio n of telemetry data.

The east/west bubble w a s aga ins tThis amount of misalignment causes a somewhat gr ea ter v ar iat ion i n

I n i t i a l da t a were r ece ived a t 0254 G.m. t . on December 12 and the re-ceived s ig na l s t r en gth , radioisotope them oe lec t r i c generator power, re-serve power, and temperature st at us were d l ear the pre-mission pre dic -t i o n s . The power output st ab i l i ze d a t 75.8 watts during the f i r s t l una rday and inc re as ed t o '7'7.2 w a t t s during the f i r s t lu na r nig ht. The auto-matic power management c i r c u i t i s maintaining the average thernal platet emperature of t he ce n t ra l s t a t io n betveen 270.1' K and 324.8' K.

The telemetry si gn al power le ve l , 2s received at various Spacefl ightTracking and Data Network s i t e s , varied kl.5 dBm i n a sinusoidal manneraround th e normal le v e l and t h i s had no aff ec t on th e dat a. This var ia-t i o n w a s probably caused by a multipath phenomena produced by an antennaside-lobe re fl ec t io n from the South Massif.i 4.3 HEAT FLOW EXEilIMENTiI

Two he at flow experiment (S-037) bore stems were dr i l l e d i n to th elunar sur face t o the p lanned depth of 254 centimeters and the probes wereinser t ed dur ing the f i r s t ex t r aveh i cu l z r zc t i v i t y ( f i g . 4-4).The t o t a l power-on t ime require d t o &r i l l bore stem 1 n t o t he s o i lThe penetration rate was variable wi th a par-

Between 120 and 200 centimetersw a s 3 minutes 46 seconds.t i c u l a r l y low pene tr a t ion r a t e (40 centineters per minute) occurring a ta dep th of about 80 t o 100 centimeters.dep th , t he pene t ra tion r a t e w a s 84 centimeters per minute, and i n thef i n a l 50 cent imeters , th e r at e s lowed t o about 60 centimeters per minute.Based on crew comments and televised visible sudden torques on the d r i l lhandles , some rock fragments were probably encountered during the d r i l l i n goperat ions. The f i r s t meter of probe hole 2 was d ri l l ed more rapidly thant h a t of probe 1 and below 200 centimeters, a r e s i s t a n t l a y e r was encoun-te r ed which slowed progre ss t o about 60 centimeters per minute.fragments were freq uen tly encountered during the d r i l l i n g of probe hole 2which required a t o t a l power-on time of approximately 3 minutes.

Rock

The heat flow experiment w a s turned on at 0302 G.m.t . on December 1 2The operationnd va l i d temperature da ta were received from all sensors .


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4-10

thermorneeferenceer - box- I- - * Thermocouple

. ._ .. ...$.. . .-

I::12

245 crn--1o l id - faced bi tFigure 4-4.- Relative l ocati ons of heat f low probes.

of t h e experiment has been satisfactory.ing in ser ted in to th e bore stem and a bore sten-and-probe temp erature ofabout 300' K was indicated immediately after insertion.t o January 3 , the experiment w a s operated in th e normal gradient mode,which samples each sensor every 7.2 minutes . Between January 3 and Jan-uary 2 4 , ei gh t low-condu ctivity experiments were conducted with a heaterpower of 0.002 w a t t .January 26.

Probe 2 w a s operating before be-From December 12

One high-conductivity experiment w a s performed on


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. . . . . . . . ...- , . . . . . . . . . . . .

4-11

The refe rence thermometer a t tac hed t o the exper iment e lec t ro ni cspackage r ad ia t o r p l a t e i nd i ca t es th a t the package reaches a m a x i m u m t em -perature of 328' K at l u n a r noon, and rezmins at 290' K throughout thel u n a r n i g h t .

4.4 LUNAR SEISMIC PROFILISG EXPERIMENTThe lun ar s eism ic pr of i l in g experiment (S-203) geophone ar ra y w a s de-ployed at t h e lun ar su r f ace exper iment s s i t e ( f i g . 4-3).w a s commanded on t o ver i fy ins t rument operat ion at 0358 G.m. t . on

December 12.The experiment

The e xpl osi ve packages were deployed as shown i n fig ur e 4-2 dur ingt h e t h r e e e x t r a v e hi c u l a r a c t i v i t y p e ri o ds .were de ton ate d by command and each of th e geophones responded t o th e det-onat ions . The deton at ion of explos ive peckage 7 w a s observed through thete l ev i s ion camera .A l l of the exp los ive charges

The c e n t r a l s t a t i o n w a s commanded t o t h e high -b it -r at e mode a t2229 G . m . t . on December 1 4 t o re cord the impulse produced by the lu na rmodule ascent. A s t rong se i smic s igna l r esponse from the geophone arraywas recorded. II

The l u n a r s e i smi c p r o f i l i n g e x p e r i r e nt w a s ag ai n commanded t o t h ehigh-bit-rate mode a t 0636 G . m . t . on Decez?jer 1 5 t o r e c or d t h e l m e r mod-.d e ascent s ta ge imoact. The inpac t occl ; rred a t 19 degrees 59 ~ c u t e s24 seconds north arrd 30 degrees 30 minut5s 36 seconds east a t 0650 G . n . t .on December 1 5 . The inpa ct poin t was ori the sou th s lope of Soauh N8ssif,about 8.4 k i l one te r s southwes t o f the A ~ a L l o 7 l a n d i n g s i t e .Tne recording of th e se isrn ic s ig nal s produced by th e d et on at ic i oft h e e i g h t e x p l o s i v e p a ck e ge s , t o g e t h e r kfch the s ignal f rom the l w a r mod-ule asc ent st ag e imp act , have enhanced t3e knowledge of t he Pmar s t r u c -t u r e .average se i smic ve loc i ty o f 250 meters rer second t o a depth of 248 me-

t e r s .lunar near-suri 'ace mater ial , suggest in g -,he presence of p ossi b le in te r -s t r a t i f i e d material , perhaps th in lava flow.second m ate r i a l , t h e s e i smi c v e l o c i t y i n c r e a se s t o 1 200 meters per second,c h a r a c t e r i s t i c o f a competent lava flow. The th ic kn es s of the 1200 metersper second mater ial i s about 925 meters. Underlying th e 1200 meters persecond l ayer i s material of an undetermined thickness which possesses aseismic v e l o c i t y o f a b o u t 4000 meters per second.

A t the Taurus-Li t t row s i t e , t h e 1zm.r near -sur face mat er i a l has a?There i s an ind i ca t ion o f inc reased apparen t ve lo c i t i e s wi th in the

Beneath the 250 ineters per


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4-12

When th e Apol lo 17 data are combined with data from the earlier mis-s i o n s , i t should be pos s ib le t o de te rmine the s t ru c t u r e of the luna r c ru s tt o a depth of approximately 1 0 ki lometers .4.5 LUNAR ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION EXPERIMENT

The l u n a r atm osph eric compositio n experiment (S-205) deployment i sshown i n f ig ur e 4-3.completed as planned.imately 0420 G . m . t . a f t e r t h e l a s t lunar s e i sa ic pr of i l in g experiment ex-plosive package w a s detonated . After a llowing the ra d i a t or tempera turet o decrease from a peak of 340.8O K (before cover removal), t o 327.5' K ,nine hours of ion source outgassing w a s ac co ql is he d th e fo l lowing daywith a temperature of 523O K having been reached.

All a c t i v i t i e s associa ted with t he deployment wereThe dust cover w a s opened on December 18 at approx-

The f i r s t ac ti va ti on of th e experiment occurred on December 27 a tapproximately 1800 G . m . t . The instrument resgonded w e l l t o commands andw a s operating normally except for a background count ramp i n th e low- andmid-mass channels. The presence of t h i s in te rf er en ce w i l l not cause thel o s s of da ta , but i t w i l1 : i n c r e a s e t h e d i f f i c u l t y i n r ed uc in g t h e d a t afrom t h i s po rt io n of the spectrum. This anozzly i s d iscussed i n sec t ion1 5 . 4 . 5 . !Operation throughout the f i r s t lunat ion w a s characterized by good

performance of t h e instrum ent except fo r two occasion s duri ng lun ar sun-r i s e when t h e inst rum ent switch ed in t o th e high-voltage-lock mode, whichs topped th e s tepp ing of t he sweep voltage. "wo log ic sys tem no ise b u r s t s ,which occurred j u s t a f te r su nr is e , m a y have caused the sweep high voltaget o be commanded i n t o lock. On both occasions, the si tu at io n w a s proper lyrectified by commanding the sweep high volt2g2 back on.Many re s i d u a l peaks were observed i n the spectrum, but only the he-l i u m peak i s c l e a r l y n a t i v e t o t h e moon.Ci a l ly due t o outgass ing of th e ins t rument , the l una r module , and theApollo lunar surface experiments package, as evidenced by the peaks de-creas ing i n amplitude throughout t he l una r n ight .

The remainder are at l e a s t p a r -

Sunrise brought a l a r g e in c r ea s e i n all peaks i n t he spectrum excepthelium which decreased as would be expected if it were a native nonconden-s i b l e g a s . Operation w a s c u r t a i l e d 24 hours af te r sun r is e because of th every h igh gas d en si t i es i n the ion source chanber (approximate ly l o 9 m o l -ecules per cubic centimeter) from material outgassing.of opera t ion w a s performed a t lunar noon.again a few hours before sunset on January 23.c r e as e i n g as d e n s i t i e s a bo ut t h e t i m e o f s m s e t .A 15-minute periodFull-time operation was begunThere was a marked de-


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4-1 3

Daytime operation w i l l be l i mi te d t o those t imes when the outga ssingl e v e l s a r e t o l e r a b l e . A s in di ca te d by the da ta from previous missions ,t h e i n s tr u m en t , s i t e , a nd o t h e r a r t i f a c t s will even t ual l y be s u f f i c i e n t l yfr ee of outgas sing contaminants t o enable the lunar atmospheric composi-t i o n experiment t o produce high q ua l i ty data.

4.6 LUNAR EJECTA AND METEORITES EXPERIMENT

The l una r e j e c t a and meteor i t es eGer iment (S-202) deployment i s showni n f i gu r e 4-3.b e r 21, af t e r de tona tion of th e l a s t explosive package and when the in-t e rn a l s t ru c t ur a l temperature had decreesed t o 344' K .opera ted for about 1 5 hours on December 22 but w a s turned off because ofr i s i ng t emperat u re s .t o record th e background noi se ra t e fo r the ins trument.were not removed u n t i l December 28, a f t e r conplet i on of continuous opera-t i o n which encompassed about 60 hours of lu na r day and about 50 hours oflu na r ni gh t . The instrument data indi czte th at the background noise r a tew a s e s s e n t i a l l y z er o .

The radiator mirror w a s uncovered at 0957 G . m . t . on Decem-The experiment was

The experiment WES turned on again on December 23The sensor covers

The instrument i s : i n t he ful l op e re ti ng mode from sun ang les of 20'befor e su nset through 20' a f t e r sunr ise because of a thermal co nt ro l prob-lem d uring th e lunar day.anomaly. For tuna tely , th e instrument neasurenents of eje ct a are be st per-formed dur ing th e lun ar n igh t when the y ima ry pa r t i c l e impact ra t e s a r ene ar zer o. The instrument w i l l remain of f d uri ng most of t he lu na r dayu n t i l th e scie nce obje ct iv es which can be achieved during lun ar night a r ef u l f i l l e d or u n t i l s a t i s f a c t o ry t he rm al con t ro l can be a t t a i n ed .

Sect ion 1 5 . 4 . 3 contains a di scuss ion of th i s

The measurements in di ca te th a t t he detec ted number of l un ar e je ct ap a r t i c l e s compare with in an or de r of magnitude t o th e number of primarypa rt ic le s . The measurements ar e v e r i o i n g th at the bulk of cosmic dustma ter ia l comes from th e gen eral d i re ct i cn of th e sun which agrees witht he r e su l t s ob ta i ned from s imilar i n s t rm en t s ca r r i e d on P ioneer 8 and 9 .4.7 LUNAR SURFACE GRAVIXETER EXPERIMEmT

The lunar surface gravimeter experiment (S-207) ( f i g . 4-3) was ac t i v -a t e d a t 0523 G. m. t . on December 1 2 , and fo l lowing ac t iva t ion , t he da ta(sc i ence and engineer ing) ind i ca te d nomal opera t ions .d i t i o n of a l l masses apparently set the sensor beam against the lower stopHowever, the ad-and removal of one mass ap pa re nt ly moved th eOperation o f t he adjustment screws f ai le d t oadding of all masses f a i l e d t o move th e beama l y i s d i scussed i n s ec t i on 15 .4 .1 .

beam against the upper s top.n u l l t h e beam and the secondt o the lower s top . "his anom-


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4-14On Jan uar y 3, 1973 , the exper iment was re-conf igured, and the se nsorbeam w a s c e n t e r e d by a d j u s t i n g t h e mass change mechanism t o ob ta in long-

term se i smic and free-mode sc ience da ta . I n t h i s r ev i se d conf igura t ion ,t i d a l d a ta are no t be ing ob ta ined , but the experiment i s c o l l e c t i n g l on g-t e r m se i sm i c and f r ee mode information.The luna r su r f ace g rav imete r exper imen t sensor ' s i n i t i a l on -scalete mp er at we of 321.5' K occur red at about 2054 G . r n . t . , December 1 4 , some63 hours af te r i n i t i a l turn-on. The experiments senso-: temperature now

r e m a i n s s t a b i l i z e d at 322.323' K . The in s t rm e n 5 s subsys tem compor-entscon t inue t o op era te normally p rov id ing eng ineer ing stz t r s d&a.

4.8 TRAVERSE GFUIVIMETER EPZRIMENTThe t raverse gravimeter experiment (S-1% ) ?lade an earth-moon gav! ;,t i e a nd o b t ai n e d t h e v a l u e o f g r a v i t y a t var ic i s s tops a long the t ravers -s ,r e l a t i v e t o t h e v al ue of g r a v i t y a t t h e l a r d i n g s i t e . Using absolute grav-i t y neasurements on the E ar t h , a p re l im i na r i- v d u e o f 1 6 2 694 (ts) m i l l i -

g a l s w a s ob ta ined at t h e Taurus-Li t trow l znd ing s i t e . The nuqber c f sta-t i o n s ( 1 2 ) a t which d i sc re t e g rav i ty measu_rere.its %-ere made ( f i g . 4-2 andt a b l e 4-1) w a s about as pl$nned with an e x t r a ?ezsurernent bein q m d e n-ts t z t i o n 2 A and no measurem hts tak en a t s t a z i c n I_ 'Decstuse of t a e coa-s t r a i n t s . l--- ".. *.. . L-. .

Th e h a r d v a r e p e r f o r x e d s a t i s f a c t o r i i y .:=:zs; - fo r d i f f e r ences be tweesmeasurements made OL I the lunar roving vehLcL.1- 5r-l r?Esurerr.ec%s mi le w it hth e exper iment r es t i ng on the s u r f ace a t tht ~-1-t; tes . The values EX?ZS--ured OI? t h e su rfa ce were dws.ys lower. Yc? L? ' - r ence ir, h e g r a v i t y mas-ureaen t a t t h e l a n d i n g p o i n t w a s 4.6 m i l l i g r l s . IS s t z t i o n 8 i t was 6.?m i l l i g a l s , md a t sz a t i o n 9 i t w a s 6.2 rCi :g?- - s .discrepancy i s no t knom.c a l c o r r e c t i o n of -6 m i l l i g d w a s e s t a b l i s h ? 3:- l l values neasxred vhenthe exper iment w a s mounted on t h e l u n a r r o v i r g veh ic le .

The reason for t k i sI n i n i t i a l p os tf ;i g3 t c a l c u l a t i o n s , &TI e z g i r i -

A p r e l i m i n a r y a n a l y s i s of' t h e data has &$r, mzde by p r o j e c t i n g it t oa northwest-s outheast pr of i l e and by making t-$9 Smens iona l approx ina tionsf o r all th e reduc t ions and in te rp re ta t i on s . Free-ai r and Bouguer cmr ec-t i o n s w ere a p p l i e d t o t h e d a t a .va lues at s t a t i o n s 2 A and 8 , near th e South North Massifs, r e s p e c t i v e l y ,which a re more than 20 mi l l i ga l s lower t h m the va lue a t t h e l a n d i n g s i t e .The v a r i a t i o n o f Bouguer v a l u e s i n t h e c e n t r z l p a r t of t h e v a l l e y are re l -a t i v e l y small , a l though the value at s t a t i o n 4 i s a f ew mi l l iga l s h igherand the value q t s t a t i o n 5 i s a f e w m i l l i g a l s l o w e r t h a n t h e value a t t h eland ing s i t e . A p r e l i m i n a r y i n t e r p r e t a t i o n o f t h e gross features of t h eg r a v i ty p r o f i l e i s a model with basal t f lows having a p o s i t i v e d e n s i t yc o n t r a s t o f 0.8 gram per cubic c ent im eter and a t h i c k n e s s o f 1k i lomete rburied u nd er t h e v a l l e y f l o o r .

The r e s u l t a t Bouguer corrections shows


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4-15

The surf ace e l e c t r i c a l pro per t ies experiment (S-204) w a s deployed asshown i n fi gu re 4-2, and w a s u ti l i z e d during port ions of both the secondand th i r d ex t ravehicu la r a c t iv i t y periods.ment, a problem w a s encountered i n keeping the solar panel open becauseof memory i n th e s o l a r pa ne l wiri ng harne ss. The crew res olve d th e prob-lem by t ap ing t he p anel f u l l y open. A l s o , during the deployment of t hetr an sm it t er antennas, th e two s e t s of dipoles were reversed from theplanned orientat ion.data reduction process with no l o s s of data.A thermal co nt ro l problem wi th the surface e le ct r i c al proper t ies re-

ce ive r caused the premature termina tion of the experiment. This problemi s di scussed in d e t a i l i n sec t ion 15.4.2.

During the transmit ter deploy-

The effect of the reversal w a s co rrect ed i n t he

Despite the se problems, when the surface e le c tr ic a l pro per t ies ex-periment recorder w a s r e tu rned t o ea r t h , 1 hour and 42 minutes of datahad been obtained.

k.10 ' LUNAR N E U T R O N PROBE EXPERIMENTIIThe lunar neutron probe experiment (S-229) w a s deployed as shown i n

f i g u r e 4-3 and emplaced i n the deep d r i l l core hole during the f i r s t ex-t r aveh i cu l a r a c t i v i t y pe ri od. The 2-meter probe w a s retrieved and deac-t i v a t e d a t the end of t he th i r d ext ravehicu la r ac t iv i ty per iod , accru ing49 hours of exposure. The s i t e was approximately 38 meters north of theApollo lunar surface experiments package radioisotope thermoelectric gen-e r a t o r ( f i g . 4-3). Corre ctions require d because of th e proximity of t h egenerator, which i s a st ro ng source of neutrons, should be s m a l l ; althoughexperimentation i s necessary t o determine the s iz e of t he correct ion.The probe w a s returned, disassembled, and the targets and detectorswere i n excel le nt condi t ion.The background due t o the di re ct int er act ion of the f as t neutronsfrom the radioisotope thermoelect r ic generator wi th the p la st ic w a s meas-ured, and appears t o be neg l igib le .Only t h e mica de te ct or s have been completely examined. Analysis ofthe remaining detectors and data i s continuing and w i l l be completed a f t e rpo st f l ig ht cal ibr at i on of the probe. Although the ca l ibra t ion data havenot been completely processed, the t rack densi t ies are i n the expec tedrange. The neutron capture r a te s appear t o be within a factor of two ofthose est imated from th e theor et i ca l calculat ions.


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. . . . . .... . .. . . - . I. . ~ . . _ . . . .

4-164.11 COSMIC RAY DETECTOR EXPERIMENT

The cosmic ray detector experiment (S-152) w a s deployed by pullingth e s l i d e cover open and hanging the cover i n the shade while t he box w a si n t he sun on the lunar module. In bo th cases , t he nuc lear par t i c l e de-te c to r s faced outward from th e lu na r module. The de te cto rs were exposedt o t he lunar environment f o r approximately 45.5 hours.any of t he de t ec t o r su r f aces w a s found. Microscopic examination of t hede tec tor su rf ac es showed very l i t t l e dust. The maximum temperature o fapproximately 400' K (as shown by temperature labels) was well below thec r i t i c a l l i m i t .

No degradation of

The t ra ck s of heavy s ola r wind ions are c l ea rly vis ib le , as are thet rac ks of intermediate-energy heavy pa rt ic le s .sur pri s ing ly high (approximately 6 x lo3 t racks per square cent imeter)and indicate that the sun emits an appreciable flux of p a r t i c l e s i n th erange of 1 0 keV p er nucleon t o 1 0 meV pe r nucleon, even a t t imes of quietsun. These p a rt ic le s were found i n both th e shade and sun detec tors andthus ar e not di r ec t ly asso ciated wi th the s ol ar wind. The t rac ks havebeen seen i n th e mica, g la ss , and p la s t i c det ecto rs. The energy spectrumi s s i m i la r t o t h a t of s o l a r f l a r e s .i s possibly associated wi th a vis ual l y act ive sun spot area th at waspresen t dur ing the e n t i re jApollo 17 mission. This experiment i s thef i r s t flown th a t could have dete cte d the presence of the intermediate-energy par t i c l es .l i m i t th e degree t o which th e radon atmosphere can be est ab lis he d at theApollo 17 s i t e , b u t t h i s const i tutes no degradation of the basic experi-ment.

The flux of t h e l a t t e r i s

This intermediate energy component

The presence of th e intermediate-energy p a r ti c le s w i l l


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. . . , . . _ . . . . > . , . . .. . . .. . . . . . . , . . . . .. .

i

4-174.12 LUNAR GEOLOGY

4.12.1 Sample Coll ecti onAreas sampled f o r the lun ar geology invest igat ion (S -059 ) during the

The variation and Iocation of the 110.405 kilograms of rocksex t raveh icu l a r a c t i v i t i e s inc luded all of the mapped units at t h e s i t e( f i g . 4 -2 ) .and so i l s co l l ec t ed a re p re sen t ed i n the fol lowing table .Type of material

Dark mantle

Sub flo or

Bright mantle!iIouth Massif

North Massif

Young cr at er e j ec ta

aLocations where found~ ~~

Sta t ions U , 5 , 8 , 9 , l and ing s i t e , andlunar roving vehicle s tops 1, 3, 7 , 8, 9 ,and ll.Sta t ions l A , 5 , 9 , landing s i t e , and lunarroving vehicle stops 3 and 9.St a t i ons 2 , 3, lunar roving vehicle s tops2 , 4 , 5, 6, and possible st at io n 4.Sta t ion 2.S ta t ions 6 , 7 , and possibly at lunar rov-ing vehicle s top 10 .Sta t ions 4 and 9 .

Figure 4-2 shows the locat ions of a l l stat ions and sampling stops.Most of t h e rocks c ol le ct ed were described as c r y s t a l l i n e , w ith b a s a l t sand blue-gray bre cc ias be ing the dominant rock ty pe s. The br ec ci as ex-h i b i t a very complex multi-cycle hi st or y, and br ec cia s apparen tly occuras i nc lus ions i n the anor thos i t i c gabbro . A variety of composit ions wasobvious among t h e s m a l l c l a s t s i n the breccias .

Only s t a t i on 10 w a s de let ed from the preplanned st at io ns . The crewdrove past the s t a t i o n 1 0 are a and ver bal ly reported the rock types. Thes t a t i o n 4 sampling ta sk s on th e br ig ht mantle were d ele ted because of th esho r t t i m e at t h e s t a t i o n i n preference t o sampling th e f i r s t p r i o r i t yt a r g e t - horty Crater .A 3.2-meter core w a s obtained at the Apollo lunar surface experimentspackage s i t e .t i o n 6.stem from stat ion 3 w a s placed i n the core sample vacuum co nta ine r) .

Sampling at all o t he r s t a t i ons was as planned.S ing le cores w e r e col l ec t ed a t t he l u n a r module and a t sta-Double core s were co lle ct ed at s t a t i ons 3, 4 , and 9 (the lower

The


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4-18sp ec ia l environmental sample con tain er w a s used fo r the fu el products con-tamination sample a t t h e lu na r module. Rake samples were co ll ec te d a ts t a t i o n s lA, 2 , 3, 6, and 8.attempted at s t a t io n 2 and 6 , but were probably successful only at s ta-t i o n 6.it were collected at s t a t i o n 8 .co l lec ted at a l l st at io ns and most l un ar roving vehicl e sampling sto ps.Panoramic photographs taken from th e v i c i n i t i e s of s t a t i o n s 4 , 5 , and 6are shown i n f igu res 4-5 through 4-7.

Sampling of permanently shadowed areas wereSamples from th e t o p &nd bottom of a boulder and the s o i l underDocumented rock and s o i l samples were

4.12.2 Summary of GeologyTo provide a context for th e individ ual sample locat ion des cr ipt ions ,a br ie f descr ipt ion of th e geologic cha ra cte r is t ic s of each sampling s ta-t i o n i s includ ed. The st at i o ns and lu na r roving vehicle sample sto ps ar edescribed i n t he sequence i n which the y occurred on the t rav erse s . Thei n t e r p r e t a t i o n s i n these summaries are tentative and some w i l l almost cer-ta in ly be modified af t e r more informatio n on the samples i s ava i lab le .4.12.2.1 Station a t l and ing s i t e area .- The land ing s i t e s ta t ion i sloca ted i n th ree general a reas rang ing f r o n 200 meters e as t t o 200 meterswest of the lunar module y d covering approximately 0.5 square kilom eter.The station i s lo cat ed near the cen ter of Taurus-Littrow vall ey i n an a r e awhere fine- t o coarse-grained subfloo r ba szl ts are overlain by a r e g o l i t ht h a t may cont ai n or be ov erl ain by dark mantling mater ial.The val ley f loor at t h e s t a t i o n i s smooth, loc al l y f l a t , and onlygen tly r o ll in g . The abundance of surfac e rocks i s higher than the re-gional average fo r the val l ey f l oo r and rvlges f rom 2 t o 7 percent a t t h elun ar module and experiments package s i t e s t o le ss than 1 o 2 percent a tt h e s u r f ac e e l e c t r i c a l p r o p e r t i e s t r a n sm i tt e r/ a nt e nn a s i t e . Blocks rangeup t o a m a x i m u m of 4 meters i n th e experiments package area, and rock bur-ia l and f i l l e t i n g i n t h e s t a t i o n a r e a i s pronounced on some meter-sizedblocks .Rock types a t the station are extremely l imited and consist predom-ina ntl y of coarse-grained subfloo r basal t with lo ca l fine-grained var i -ations. Clods of s o i l brec cia associa ted with impact events are a ls opre sent . Rock sample typ es co ll ec te d at the th ree a reas o f the s ta t ioninclude : L u n a r module s i t e (1glass-coated br ecc ia; 2 coarse-grainedb a s a l t s ; 1 ine -gra ined basa l t ) ; Experiments package s i t e (1s o i l b r ec c ia ;

1 coarse-grained basalt ; 1 f ine-grained basal t ) ; Surface e lect r ica l prop-e r t i e s a nt en na s i t e ( p os s ib l y 3 f ine-grained ba sa lt s) . There i s evidencethat the f ine-gyained basal t s a re more common a t t h e s u r f a c e e l e c t r i c a lp roper t i es antenna area ea st of t he l un ar module s i t e . Other samples in-clude a deep core sample (3.2 meters) and a single core tube.


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4-23

S oi ls a re como nly medium dark gray and more c ohesive w ith depth t oa depth of 25 t o 35 centimeters. The s o i l consis ts of lay er s of d i f f e r e n tdri l l ing resis tance judging from the al ternat ing zones of easy t o d i f f i -cu l t d r i l l i n g tha t were encountered in all holes , wi th the most res is ta ntzone being a t about 2 meters.i n th e st at io n are.. "Raindrop" text ure i s common over th e a rea bu t mostpronounced a t t he sur face e l ec t r i c a l p roper t i es antenna s i t e . Exoti cfeldspar-rich components from the North and South Massif units do not ap-pear t o be abundant in the reg ol i th a t the s ta t ion .

There ar e no consptcuous surface lineaments

The surface i n the stat ion area contains many subtle 20-centimetert o 2-meter cr at er s , the l a t t e r p robably represen t ing the cur ren t s t eady-s t a t e l i m i t of c rz t e r s i ze . The nea re s t l a rge c ra t e r s t o t he s t a t i on a reRudolph (80-meter diameter) , 70 meters t o the n orth of th e experimentspackage , and hi gh ly subdued Poppy (100-neter dia me te r) , 70 meters southof th e luna r module si t e . Most of th e observable surfa ce blocks ar e as-sociate d with la rg er cr at er e je cta such as Camelot (600-meter diameterand t o the west a distanc e of about 1-crate r diameter) .

The samples collected at the s t a t i o n represent va r i e t i e s o f coarset o f ine-grained ba sa l t s t ha t make up the sub-regol ith val l ey f loo r . Ad i s t i n c t l a y e r o f dark mantle material overlying regoli th was recognizedneither on photographs from the mission nor by the crew during the mis-sio n, suggest ing tha t lthe upper part of the dark mantle, i f i t e x i s t s asa sep ara te e n t i ty , ha2 been gardened into a normal re go li t h o verlying th esub floo r ba sa lt s. The deep core sample taken a t th e experiments packages i t e should provide the bes t st rat igraphic data on the postulated darkmantle ma te ri al . However, gardening of dark mantle and normal reg o li thm a y have dest royed original dark mant le deposi t ional character i s t ics .

4.12.2.2 Stat ion 1A.- Sta t ion 1A i s located about 1 kilometer south-southeast of the surface e le ct r i ca l propert ies antenna s i t e and about150 meters from t h e northwest r i m of Steno Crater.i n any of the s ta t io n photographs, but i t s north r i m i s apparently theb locky a rea t ha t r i s e s t o t he sou th i n the photographs.on th e subdued e je c ta blank et of Steno Crater th a t has been covered bydark mantle.

Steno i s not v i s ib l eThe station i s

The sta t io n are a i s gen t l y ro l l i ng , a re f l ec t ion of the in f luence oft he e j e c t a b l anket of Steno Crater, a 70-meter very subdued c ra te r t o theeast, and other hunmocks that are remnants of older crater forms.s t a t i o n i s character ized by a sca t t e r ing of rQcks th at range up to 1/2 t o1meter. Some distant boulders on t h e rim of Steno range up t o se ver almeters. Boulders ar e concentrated around smaller cr at er s only near th e10-meter st at io n cr at er . Other concentrations do not seem t o be re la te dt o c r a t e r r i m s . Fi l l e t s are not w e l l developed; burial of blocks rangesfrom perched t o almost to ta l l y buried.

The


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4-24The major sampling areas are a 10-meter blocky r i m cra ter and a rakesample from a r e l a t i v e l y f l a t area free of blocks 15 meters east of the

blocky cr a te r. The sample are as rep res en t th e extremes of rock concen-tr at io ns . Sampling of th e 10-meter blocky cr at er yielded only subfloo rba s a lt fragments from th e two la rg e boulders th a t were sampled. Samplingof the in t e rc ra t e r area yielded some subfloor basalt samples plus somefragments t h a t no doubt re present exo tic material.The fine-grained s o i l seems t o be the sane gray tone everywhere i nth e st a ti o n are a. There ar e no obvious ligh ter- tone d zones, and no con-centration of raindrop impressions or l ineanents .Craters i n th e s ta t i on area range from several cent imeters up t ote ns of meters . Most are moderately subdued t o very subdued. Ej ec ta i s

rea dil y apparent only around the 10-meter blocky c ra te r tha t i s the primesampling area.The fragment samples are important because they are examples of sub-f loor bas a l t , de rived from the c ra t e r f loo r or pos sib ly re-excavated Stenoejec ta . The s o i l samples are s ign i f ic ant as examples of material t h a tprobably represents dark mantle.4.12.2.3 F i r s t lun ar roving veh icle svnDle stop.- The f i r s t lunarroving vehicle sample stop i s loc ate d d on g the route from th e lu nar mod-u l e a r ea t o s t a t i o n 2 , bet!ween Horatio and Bronte Craters. Like the lunarmodule area and station 1, th e sample st op area i s i n the dark mantle un i t

shown on premission photogeologic maps; the surface appearance, however,i s qu i t e d i f f e ren t .Both the lunar module area and stat

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