Ranger:Ranger: CircumstancesCircumstances, Events, Legac, g yy

JamesJames DD. BurkeBurkejdburke@caltech.edu

Harris M. Schurmeierh.schurmeier@sbcglobal.net

November 13, 2012 Mariner@50 -- Ranger 1

OriginsOrigins ofof RangerRanger andand MMarinerariner• InIn 19581958-59,59, JPLJPL chooseschooses deepdeep spacespace asas itsits goalgoal

JPL and ABMA/Von Braun (Army team) begin launchlaunch servicesservices planningplanning withwith USAFUSAFTransfer to new NASA leads to much confusionOctober 1960 Mars window abandoned; Mariner A becomes Mariner R for Venus 1962Ranger allocated five Atlas-Agena vehiclesDSN and SFOF developpment started

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November 13, 2012 Mariner@50 -- Ranger 2

RangerRanger andand MarinerMariner PhilosophyPhilosophy• Common bus, variable payp yloads

Science on every flight (Army legacy)BuildBuild reliabiltyreliabilty throughthrough repetitionrepetition (Army)(Army)Uninterrupted telemetry, find failure causePlanetary schedule fixed; drive Ranger hard to gain experience with thatSoviets expected to compete

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November 13, 2012 Mariner@50 -- Ranger 3

InitialInitial RRangeranger FlightFlight PlanPlan• Two tes t flights, high apog g gp gee, not aimed at

Moon, to demonstrate attitude control, solar power and high-ggp g ain communications.Particle and field instruments, UV telescopeThenThen threethree lunarlunar roughrough landerslanders withwith m/cm/c maneuver hydrazine burn and solid retroSeiS ismometter iin capsulle, GGamma ray spectrometer and TV on bus

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November 13, 2012 Mariner@50 -- Ranger 4

Events in 1960 and 1961• Ranger project established in October 1960

Soviet Mars launch failures,, 10 and 14 Oct.Kennedy inaugural address, 20 Jan. 1961SovietSoviet VenusVenus launcheslaunches, 44 andand 1212 FFebeb. 19611961Gagarin orbits Earth, 12 April 1961Kennedy announces Apollo, 25 May 1961Ranger 1 and 2 launched, 23 Augg , ust and 18 November 1961

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November 13, 2012 Mariner@50 -- Ranger 5

10/26/2012 6

EarlyEarly RRangeranger MgmtMgmt. TroublesTroubles• What upper stage to use on Atlas?

Army (ABMA, VB team, JPL) vs. USAF habitsTransfer from Army to NASA:

••• --- Role of MSFC

--- JPL resistance to new, intrusive direction•f• RolR le off sciientiists (l(lunar OOKK; non-lunar a source ol f

friction)TightTight scheduleschedule (JPL)(JPL) vsvs bestbest sciencescience (Science(Science .advisors and NASA)

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November 13, 2012 Mariner@50 -- Ranger 7

RangerRanger PayloadsPayloads

• RARA--11 andand 2:2: ParticlesParticles andand fieldsfields instrumentsinstruments plus UV telescope to view Earth’s hydrogen coronacoronaRA-3,4,5: Seismometer in rough-landing capsule;capsule; GammaGamma-rayray sspectrometerpectrometer andand TVTV on busRARA-66-9: Si9 Six TTVV cameras

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RA-1 & 2

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Ranger Flightsg g• RA-1: No Agena second burn; switch

overheat; sp; pacecraft OK but no scienceRA-2: Agena launched with gyros inop.RARA-3:3: MirrorMirror imageimage m/c,m/c, missedmissed MoonMoonRA-4: Main pwr. short at Agena separationRARA-5:5: MainMain pwrpwr. llost;ost; 1010-3232 screwscrew overheatoverheatRA-6: Plasma short circuit in Agena umbilicalumbilical atat AtlasAtlas sstaging;taging; TVTV burnoutburnoutRA-7,8,9: Complete success

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November 13, 2012 Mariner@50 -- Ranger 10

10/26/2012 11Mariner 50 to Ranger

Rangger 5 Main Power Logic Unitg

• Front side showing relays and distribution wiringiring

The Screw That Ended RA-5

• RARA-5 5 maimainn power logic unit; feed-thoruggh screw loosened, adding resistance and heat; gradually mainmain powerpower waswas lost

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RA-6 7 8 9RA 6,7,8,9

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Rangger Lessons• Robotic deep-space exploration demands great

attention to risk and even then both US andattention to risk, and even then, both US and USSR have lost Mars missions into the 1990’sTechnical risks tend to arise at interfaces difficult or impossible to test

h bManagement risks, abundant in the early Ranger years, f ll b thave been successfully overcome, but continued vigilance is essentialPolitical intervention did not help as it usually didPolitical intervention did not help, as it

failuredid

not address the real causes of usually

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Ranger Project References1 H ll R Cargill (1977) L1. Hall, R. C ill (1977), Lunar I t A Hi t fImpact: A History of Project Ranger. NASA SP-42102 Burke J D (1984)2. Burke, J.D. (1984), Personal Profile SPACEFLIGHTPersonal Profile. SPACEFLIGHT, March. The British Interplanetary Society3. Gallentine, Jay (, y (2010),), Ambassadors from Earth. University of Nebraska Press4L Ni S di i I lli US N i l

. Burke, J.D. (1966, declassified 1994), Seven Years to Luna Nine. Studies in Intelligence, US National Archives5. Huntress, W.T. Jr. and Marov M Ya (2011) Soviet5 Huntress W T Jr and Marov, M. Ya. Robots in the Solar System. Springer

(2011), Soviet

6. Westwick, P. (, (2006),), Into the Black;; JPL and the American Space Program 1976-2004, Yale 2006

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