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Aviation History
1967
1967 - 0696.PDF
AND SCOOWWC. Aftf A; toon to oinuNt) ABOUT 2i SO FT The surface sampler hos o wide range of movement, as shown by this impression Spaceflight second or for two seconds. Selection of the motor to be operated, its direction and the time period is made by ground command. The scoop will be positioned into the field of the survey TV camera, then energised to perform picking, digging or trenching operations. Visual data combined with a determina- tion of the force developed during the digging is expected to indicate the strength, texture and cohesive character of the soil. A single telemetry channel from the spacecraft will monitor the current being drawn by the motor in operation. By employ- ing pre-flight calibration data, this measurement can be used in analysing the force necessary to scrape or dig the surface and break small rocks or agglomerations of soil. In the event of a camera failure, the surface sampler must 680 FLIGHT International, 27 April ,9 be used blind; the force measurements will be of value in analysing the operation of the instrument, but for maximum success of the experiment the surface sampler is clearly de. pendent upon visual data from the TV camera. Communications aboard Surveyor have three functions to fulfil. They must transmit and receive signals; decode com- mands sent to the spacecraft; and select and convert engineer- ing and television data into a form suitable for transmission. The first group includes one high-gain, directional antenna and two low-gain, omni-directional antennae, two transmitters and two receivers with transponder facilities. Dual transmitters and receivers are provided to ensure greater reliability. The high-gain antenna transmits 600-line television data. The low-gain antennae are designed for command reception and transmission of other information, including 200-line television data from the spacecraft; each is connected to one receiver. The transmitters can be switched to either low-gain or high-gain antennae and can operate at low or high power levels. Thermal control of the three antennae is passive, reliance being placed on surface coatings to keep temperatures within acceptable limits. The decoding group can handle up to 256 commands either direct (on-off) or quantitative (time intervals). Each incoming command is checked in a central command decoder which rejects it (and signals the rejection to Earth) if its form is in- correct. Acceptance of a command is also radioed to Earth. The command is then sent to subsystem decoders which translate the binary information into an actuating signal to initiate various functions such as changing data modes. Processing of most of the engineering data (of which 200 measurements of temperatures, voltages, currents, pressures, switch positions, etc, are sampled in cyclic fashion) is handled by the engineering signal processor or the auxiliary processor. NO MINISTER FOR SPACE Mr Wilson was asked in the Commons recently whether, in view of the fact that Britain's space budget was now running at £30 million per year, and the decision to proceed with a national space programme, a Minister of Space should not now be appointed. Replying, the Prime Minister reiterated his previous statements by saying that there would be no change from the existing situation, in which the Minister of Tech- nology (Mr Wedgwood Benn) undertook responsibility for the British programme, while "responsibility for the rest of our space activities rests with the Minister concerned with the related terrestrial activities." The 37.3 mile diameter circle represents the selected landing area for Surveyor 3. The previous lunar lander, Surveyor, touched down some 300 miles to the west SURVEYOR 3 TARGET AR 37,3 roi. di<».% iVk EUCUQ1 FRA MAUSfD 5 mi. dfo. EASTERN BLOC COMSAT SYSTEM i The Soviet news agency Tass announced on April 16 that Russia and her allies had agreed on a programme for the joint launching of satellites and rockets. Representatives of Russia, Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany, Cuba, Mongolia, Poland, Rumania and Czechoslovakia met in Moscow between April 5 and 13 and a joint satellite communications programme, open to all countries willing to join, was drafted. They also discussed the peaceful uses of space. While no details are available, it is assumed that Russia would provide the launch faciDties and vehicles to her allies in the same way that America does to Europe. No mention was made as to how, if at all, the system would be integrated with the Western system being developed around the existing Early Bird type of satellite. Cosmos 155 Recovered Transmissions on 19.995Mc/s from Cosmos 155 were received by the Kettering Grammar Schoo; satellite tracking group shortly after its launch at 11.00 Gm on April 12, and also in Stockholm. Recovery was effected on April 20 after 129 orbits (one more than usual), and signals were received on the last orbit by the Kettering group "ow 10.27 to 10.37 GMT on that date. TK Morse code signals from the spacecraft's homing beacon were received seven rninu,e. later at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, "" ceased abruptly at 11.55 GMT. •fRA MAORO
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