a15-16_v_bw_o_n (71-H-865, 71-HC-739)
“WASHINGTON -- MOON-ORBITING SATELLITE -- An artist’s concept of small NASA satellite, which is designed to ride piggyback to the Moon aboard Apollo spacecraft. NASA has awarded a $1 million contract to TRW to build two such moon-orbiting devices and the total program value is expected to be about $5 million. The small NASA satellites will carry particle detectors and magnetometers to obtain information about the interaction of the Earth’s magnetic field with the Moon. Data will be sent to Earth by an S-ban telemetry system which allows precise tracking of the satellites’ orbits. Scientists hope to learn more about the mass discontinuities of “mascon” of the lunar gravitational field. One satellite will be carried in a compartment of the Service Module on the Apollo 15 mission, with other scientific experiments and a camera system. The outer panel of the compartment will be jettisoned in the vicinity of the Moon so that the camera system may be used. The satellite will be kicked into orbit of the moon by a spring-loaded separation mechanism just before the Service Module’s propulsion system is fired for the return to Earth. Scheduled mission life of the hexagon-shaped satellite is one year.”
The source/originator of this striking artist’s concept is TRW’s immensely talented staff artist, John Desatoff.
Various handling “flaws”, primarily around the periphery of the photograph, do not detract. Still of high-gloss.
a15-16_v_bw_o_n (71-H-865, 71-HC-739)
“WASHINGTON -- MOON-ORBITING SATELLITE -- An artist’s concept of small NASA satellite, which is designed to ride piggyback to the Moon aboard Apollo spacecraft. NASA has awarded a $1 million contract to TRW to build two such moon-orbiting devices and the total program value is expected to be about $5 million. The small NASA satellites will carry particle detectors and magnetometers to obtain information about the interaction of the Earth’s magnetic field with the Moon. Data will be sent to Earth by an S-ban telemetry system which allows precise tracking of the satellites’ orbits. Scientists hope to learn more about the mass discontinuities of “mascon” of the lunar gravitational field. One satellite will be carried in a compartment of the Service Module on the Apollo 15 mission, with other scientific experiments and a camera system. The outer panel of the compartment will be jettisoned in the vicinity of the Moon so that the camera system may be used. The satellite will be kicked into orbit of the moon by a spring-loaded separation mechanism just before the Service Module’s propulsion system is fired for the return to Earth. Scheduled mission life of the hexagon-shaped satellite is one year.”
The source/originator of this striking artist’s concept is TRW’s immensely talented staff artist, John Desatoff.
Various handling “flaws”, primarily around the periphery of the photograph, do not detract. Still of high-gloss.