[Illustration: 43. Surveyor.]
High-gain Antenna
Omnidirectional Antenna A
Thermally Controlled Compartment A
Radar Altitude - Doppler Velocity Sensor
Vernier Propellant Tanks
Footpad 2
Crushable Block
Attitude Control Gas Tank (Nitrogen)
Solar Panel
TV Camera
Thermally Controlled Compartment B
Alpha Scattering Instrument Electronics
Canopus Star Sensor
Omnidirectional Antenna B
Footpad 3
Vernier Engine 3
Vernier Propellant Pressurizing Gas Tank (Helium)
Alpha Scattering Instrument
[Illustration: 44. _Apollo 12_ crewman examines _Surveyor 3_, which
soft-landed on the Moon on April 19, 1967. The _Apollo 12_ (1969)
Lunar Module is in the background.]
The Surveyor Project, begun in 1960, consisted of seven unmanned
spacecraft which were launched between May 30, 1966, and January 6,
1968. The craft were used to develop lunar soft-landing techniques, to
survey potential Apollo landing sites, and to improve scientific
understanding of the Moon.
Five of the seven Surveyor spacecraft successfully landed on the Moon
and performed their tasks well. They responded to 600,545 commands from
Earth and returned 87,632 television images of their lunar surroundings.
(_Surveyors 2_ and _4_ crashed into the Moon and were destroyed.)
Besides returning TV images, _Surveyors 3_, _5_, _6_, and _7_ carried a
soil-sampling claw which could dig a trench, and test soil hardness and
other characteristics. The soil-sampler tests showed that the lunar
surface would bear the weight of an Apollo Lunar Module.
_Surveyors 5_, _6_, and _7_ carried instruments capable of making simple
chemical analyses of the lunar soil near the spacecraft. This
information told scientists that most lunar soil near the Surveyors was
basalt, a common rock on Earth as well.
The Surveyor spacecraft on exhibit, designated _S-10_, was used in
ground-based tests of on-board equipment, and was not used on a mission.
_S-10_ is exhibited as it would have appeared just before landing on the
Moon.
Prime contractor for the Surveyor spacecraft was the Hughes Aircraft
Company. The project was managed by the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of
Technology, Pasadena, California.
The spacecraft on exhibit is from the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration.
Height 3 m. (10 ft.)
Distance across 3.5 m. (11 ft., 6 in.)
footpads
Weight 1000 kg. (2204 lb.) at launch; 292 kg. (644 lb.)
as exhibited
Electrical power One .83 sq. m. (9 sq. ft.) solar panel providing
89 w. to a silver-zinc battery
Landing vernier Three throttleable liquid-propellant rockets
rocket system each providing from 14.6 to 47.2 kg. thrust
(30 to 104 lb. thrust).
Fuel—Monomethylhydrazine monohydrate; oxidizer
90% nitrogen tetroxide and 10% nitric oxide.