Difference between revisions of "February 17, 2004"
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
__NOTOC__ | __NOTOC__ | ||
=Prelude to Apollo - Ranger 8= | =Prelude to Apollo - Ranger 8= | ||
| − | |||
| − | |||
<table width="640" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="2"> | <table width="640" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="2"> | ||
| − | + | <tr> | |
| − | + | </tr> | |
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
</table> | </table> | ||
<table width="640" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="2"> | <table width="640" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="6" cellspacing="2"> | ||
| − | + | <tr> | |
| − | + | <td colspan="2"><div align="center"> | |
| − | + | [[File:LPOD-2004-02-17.jpeg|LPOD-2004-02-17.jpeg]]</div> | |
| − | + | </td> | |
| − | + | </tr> | |
| − | |||
</table> | </table> | ||
<table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="8"> | <table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="8"> | ||
| − | + | <tr> | |
| − | + | <td><div align="center" span class="main_sm">Image Credit: [http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/mission_page/EM_Ranger_8_page1.html Ranger 8, P020]</div></td> | |
| − | + | </tr> | |
</table> | </table> | ||
| − | |||
<table class="story" border="0" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" width="90%" cellpadding="10" align="center"><tr><td> | <table class="story" border="0" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" width="90%" cellpadding="10" align="center"><tr><td> | ||
| − | + | <p class="story" align="center"><b>Prelude to Apollo - Ranger 8 </b></p> | |
| − | + | <p class="story" align="left">Today is the 39th anniversary of the launch of the Ranger 8 spacecraft. The Ranger series was designed to obtain | |
| − | + | the first high resolution images of the lunar surface to help plan for Surveyor and Apollo landings. Indeed, the | |
| − | + | Rangers provided the first ever US images of the Moon from space, and the 2nd ever, following the Soviet Luna 3 | |
| − | + | farside [../01/LPOD-2004-01-13.htm images] of 1959. Ranger 7 was the first of the Ranger series to work, | |
| − | + | and Ranger 8 demonstrated that that success was not a fluke - the US had finally learned to fly space missions. | |
| − | + | Ranger carried multiple cameras which took pictures and radioed them to Earth in sequence - the upper right frame | |
| − | + | was being transmitted when Ranger 8 smashed into the Moon - noise replaces the picture. Although 7,137 images | |
| − | + | were acquired as Ranger 8 plummeted towards destruction on Mare Tranquillitatis, the last few images were most | |
| − | + | important for they showed that craters existed at all scales - landing a spacecraft could be precarious. During | |
| − | + | the Ranger program I was a student worker at the Lunar & Planetary Lab, whose director was Gerard Kuiper, the | |
| − | + | Principal Investigator for Ranger. It was thrilling to see each Ranger's series of photographs start with familiar | |
| − | + | wide angle view and end with never before seen details. It was clear, the work of a crater counter might never | |
| − | + | end! (The +s and other marks are fiduciary marks - if the image was distorted, the known geometry of these marks | |
| − | + | could be used to restore it.) </p> | |
| − | + | <p class="story"><b>Related Links:</b><br> | |
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
[http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1965-010A Ranger 8 Description]</p> | [http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1965-010A Ranger 8 Description]</p> | ||
| − | + | <p class="story"> <b>Tomorrow's LPOD:</b> Sea of Dryness</p> | |
| − | + | </td></tr> | |
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
</table> | </table> | ||
| − | + | <!-- start bottom --> | |
| − | </td></tr> | + | <table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="2" cellpadding="4"> |
| − | + | <tr> | |
| + | <td><hr></td> | ||
| + | </tr> | ||
<tr> | <tr> | ||
| − | + | <td> | |
| − | + | <p align="center" class="main_titles"><b>Author & Editor:</b><br> | |
| − | + | [mailto:tychocrater@yahoo.com Charles A. Wood]</p> | |
| − | + | <p align="center" class="main_titles"><b>Technical Consultant:</b><br> | |
| − | + | [mailto:anthony@perseus.gr Anthony Ayiomamitis]</p> | |
| − | + | <p align="center" class="main_titles"><b>A service of:</b><br> | |
| − | + | [http://www.observingthesky.org/ ObservingTheSky.Org]</p> | |
| − | + | <p align="center" class="main_titles"><b>Visit these other PODs:</b> <br> | |
| − | + | [http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html Astronomy] | [http://www.msss.com/ Mars] | [http://epod.usra.edu/ Earth]</p></td> | |
| − | + | </tr> | |
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
</table> | </table> | ||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
<p> </p> | <p> </p> | ||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | |||
---- | ---- | ||
===COMMENTS?=== | ===COMMENTS?=== | ||
Click on this icon [[image:PostIcon.jpg]] at the upper right to post a comment. | Click on this icon [[image:PostIcon.jpg]] at the upper right to post a comment. | ||
Revision as of 18:16, 4 January 2015
Prelude to Apollo - Ranger 8
 |
Image Credit: Ranger 8, P020 |
|
Prelude to Apollo - Ranger 8 Today is the 39th anniversary of the launch of the Ranger 8 spacecraft. The Ranger series was designed to obtain the first high resolution images of the lunar surface to help plan for Surveyor and Apollo landings. Indeed, the Rangers provided the first ever US images of the Moon from space, and the 2nd ever, following the Soviet Luna 3 farside [../01/LPOD-2004-01-13.htm images] of 1959. Ranger 7 was the first of the Ranger series to work, and Ranger 8 demonstrated that that success was not a fluke - the US had finally learned to fly space missions. Ranger carried multiple cameras which took pictures and radioed them to Earth in sequence - the upper right frame was being transmitted when Ranger 8 smashed into the Moon - noise replaces the picture. Although 7,137 images were acquired as Ranger 8 plummeted towards destruction on Mare Tranquillitatis, the last few images were most important for they showed that craters existed at all scales - landing a spacecraft could be precarious. During the Ranger program I was a student worker at the Lunar & Planetary Lab, whose director was Gerard Kuiper, the Principal Investigator for Ranger. It was thrilling to see each Ranger's series of photographs start with familiar wide angle view and end with never before seen details. It was clear, the work of a crater counter might never end! (The +s and other marks are fiduciary marks - if the image was distorted, the known geometry of these marks could be used to restore it.) Related Links: Tomorrow's LPOD: Sea of Dryness |
|
Author & Editor: Technical Consultant: A service of: |
COMMENTS?
Click on this icon File:PostIcon.jpg at the upper right to post a comment.
