NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Ranger 3

Ranger 3 was a spacecraft of the Ranger program that was launched to study the Moon on January 26, 1962. The space probe was designed to transmit pictures of the lunar surface to Earth stations during a period of 10 minutes of flight prior to impacting on the Moon, to rough-land a seismometer capsule on the Moon, to collect gamma-ray data in flight, to study radar reflectivity of the lunar surface, and to continue testing of the Ranger program for development of lunar and interplanetary spacecraft. Due to a series of malfunctions the spacecraft missed the Moon by 22,000 miles (35,000 km). Ranger 3 spacecraft. ... The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which was established in 1958, is the agency responsible for the public space program of the United States of America. ... The Caltech Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) near Pasadena, California builds and operates unmanned spacecraft for NASA. JPL-run projects include the Galileo Jupiter mission and the Mars rovers, including the 1997 Mars Pathfinder and the twin 2003 Mars Exploration Rovers. ... For other moons in the solar system see natural satellite. ... A sun is the star at the center of a planetary system. ... January 26 is the 26th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1962 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... UTC also stands for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Coordinated Universal Time or UTC, also sometimes referred to as Zulu time, the basis for civil time, differs by an integral number of seconds from atomic time and a fractional number of seconds from UT1. ... Mercury Atlas 9 rocket and capsule on pad The Atlas is a venerable line of space launch vehicles built by Lockheed Martin. ... January 28 is the 28th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1962 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Mass is a property of physical objects that, roughly speaking, measures the amount of matter they contain. ... The elements of an orbit are the parameters needed to specify that orbit uniquely, given a model of two ideal masses obeying the Newtonian laws of motion and the inverse-square law of gravitational attraction. ... In geometry, the semi-major axis (also semimajor axis) a applies to ellipses and hyperbolas. ... (This page refers to eccitricity in astrodynamics. ... Inclination is one of the six orbital parameters describing the shape and orientation of a celestial orbit and is the angular distance of the orbital plane from the plane of the reference (usually planets equator or the ecliptic), stated in degrees. ... The Ranger program of unmanned space missions was the first United States attempt to obtain close-up images of the lunar surface. ... Crust composition Oxygen 43% Silicon 21% Aluminium 10% Calcium 9% Iron 9% Magnesium 5% Titanium 2% Nickel 0. ... January 26 is the 26th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1962 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Unmanned space missions are those using remote-controlled spacecraft. ... Earth, also known as the Earth, Terra, and (mostly in the 19th century) Tellus, is the third planet outward from the Sun. ... A seismometer is an instrument for measuring earthquakes and other ground motions. ... Gamma rays (often denoted by the Greek letter gamma, Î³) are an energetic form of electromagnetic radiation produced by radioactivity or other nuclear or subatomic processes such as electron-positron annihilation. ...

Spacecraft design

Ranger 3 was the first of the so-called Block II Ranger designs. The basic vehicle was 3.1 m high and consisted of a lunar capsule covered with a balsa wood impact-limiter, 650 mm in diameter, a mono-propellant mid-course motor, a retrorocket with a thrust of 5080 pounds force (22.6 kN), and a gold- and chrome-plated hexagonal base 1.5 m in diameter. A large high-gain dish antenna was attached to the base. Two wing-like solar panels (5.2 m across) were attached to the base and deployed early in the flight. Power was generated by 8680 solar cells contained in the solar panels which charged a 11.5 kg 1 kWh capacity AgZn launching and backup battery. Spacecraft control was provided by a solid-state computer and sequencer and an earth-controlled command system. Attitude control was provided by Sun and Earth sensors, gyroscopes, and pitch and roll jets. The telemetry system aboard the spacecraft consisted of two 960 MHz transmitters, one at 3 W power output and the other at 50 mW power output, the high-gain antenna, and an omni-directional antenna. White paint, gold and chrome plating, and a silvered plastic sheet encasing the retrorocket furnished thermal control. Binomial name Ochroma lagopus Balsa (Ochroma lagopus, synonym ) is a large, fast-growing tree to 30 m tall, native from tropical South America north to southern Mexico. ... A sun is the star at the center of a planetary system. ... Earth, also known as the Earth, Terra, and (mostly in the 19th century) Tellus, is the third planet outward from the Sun. ... Acrobatic bicycle is possible thanks to gyroscopic effects A gyroscope is a device which demonstrates the principle of conservation of angular momentum, in physics this is also known as gyroscopic inertia or rigidity in space. ... Telemetry is a technology which allows the remote measurement and reporting of information of interest to the system designer or operator. ...

The experimental apparatus included: (1) a vidicon television camera, which employed a scan mechanism that yielded one complete frame in 10 s; (2) a gamma-ray spectrometer mounted on a 1.8 m boom; (3) a radar altimeter; and (4) a seismometer to be rough-landed on the lunar surface. The seismometer (code-named "Tonto") was encased in the lunar capsule along with an amplifier, a 50 mW transmitter, voltage control, a turnstile antenna, and 6 silver-cadmium batteries capable of operating the lunar capsule transmitter for 30 days, all designed to land on the Moon at 130 to 160 km/h (80 to 100 mph). The radar altimeter would be used for reflectivity studies, but was also designed to initiate capsule separation and ignite the retro-rocket. In older video cameras, prior to the 1990s, a video camera tube or pickup tube was used instead of a charge-coupled device (CCD). ...

Mission

The mission was designed to boost towards the Moon by an Atlas/Agena, undergo one mid-course correction, and impact the lunar surface. At the appropriate altitude the capsule was to separate and the retrorockets ignite to cushion the landing. A malfunction in the booster guidance system resulted in excessive spacecraft speed. Reversed command signals caused the spacecraft to pitch in the wrong direction and the TM antenna to lose earth acquisition, and mid-course correction was not possible. Finally a spurious signal during the terminal maneuver prevented transmission of useful TV pictures. Ranger 3 missed the Moon by approximately 36,800 km on 28 January and is now in a heliocentric orbit. Some useful engineering data were obtained from the flight. January 28 is the 28th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ...

This was the first U.S. attempt to achieve impact on the lunar surface. The Block II Ranger spacecraft carried a TV camera that used an optical telescope that would allow imaging down to about 24 kilometers above the lunar surface during the descent. The main bus also carried a 42.6-kilogram instrument capsule that would separate from the bus at 21.4 kilometers altitude and then independently impact on the Moon. Protected by a balsa-wood outer casing, the capsule was designed to bounce several times on the lunar surface before coming to rest. The primary onboard instrument was a seismometer. Because of a malfunction in the Atlas guidance system (due to faulty transistors), the probe was inserted into a lunar transfer trajectory with an excessive velocity. A subsequent incorrect course change ensured that the spacecraft reached the Moon 14 hours early and missed it by 36,793 kilometers on 28 January. The central computer and sequencer failed and the spacecraft returned no TV images. The probe did, however, provide scientists with the first measurements of interplanetary gamma-ray flux. Ranger 3 eventually entered heliocentric orbit. January 28 is the 28th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ...

External link

Categories: Ranger program The Ranger program of unmanned space missions was the first United States attempt to obtain close-up images of the lunar surface. ... Download high resolution version (526x642, 129 KB) Ranger Block III spacecraft (NASA) Downloaded from NASA NIX Website: http://nix. ... Ranger 2 was a flight test of the Ranger spacecraft system of the Ranger program designed for future lunar and interplanetary missions. ... Ranger 4 was a spacecraft of the Ranger program designed to transmit pictures of the lunar surface to Earth stations during a period of 10 minutes of flight prior to impacting on the Moon, to rough-land a seismometer capsule on the Moon, to collect gamma-ray data in flight... Ranger 1 was a spacecraft in the Ranger program whose primary mission was to test the performance of those functions and parts necessary for carrying out subsequent lunar and planetary missions. ... Ranger 2 was a flight test of the Ranger spacecraft system of the Ranger program designed for future lunar and interplanetary missions. ... Ranger 4 was a spacecraft of the Ranger program designed to transmit pictures of the lunar surface to Earth stations during a period of 10 minutes of flight prior to impacting on the Moon, to rough-land a seismometer capsule on the Moon, to collect gamma-ray data in flight... Ranger 5 was a spacecraft of the Ranger program designed to transmit pictures of the lunar surface to Earth stations during a period of 10 minutes of flight prior to impacting on the Moon, to rough-land a seismometer capsule on the Moon, to collect gamma-ray data in flight... Ranger 6 was designed to achieve a lunar impact trajectory and to transmit high-resolution photographs of the lunar surface during the final minutes of flight up to impact. ... First image of the Moon taken by a US spacecraft. ... Ranger 8 was designed to achieve a lunar impact trajectory and to transmit high-resolution photographs of the lunar surface during the final minutes of flight up to impact. ... Ranger 9 was designed to achieve a lunar impact trajectory and to transmit high-resolution photographs of the lunar surface during the final minutes of flight up to impact. ... The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which was established in 1958, is the agency responsible for the public space program of the United States of America. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...