NEWS R ELEASE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AN D SPACE ADMINISTRATION

400 MARYLAN D AVENUE, SW, WASHINGTON 25, D.C.

TELEPHONES WORTH 2-4155-WORTH 3 - 1110

fOR RELEASE: HOLD FOR RELEASE UNTIL 9:00 A.M . , May 8, 1962

SECOND NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE PEACEFUL USES OF SPACE

Statement by

Edgar M. Cortright Deputy Director, Office of Space Sciences

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

SPACE SCIENCE - MOON AND PLANETS*

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By some fortunate and unknown act of nature, you and I are privileged to occupy a very special place in the universe . We are gathered at a fine fair, in a fine city, in a fine country, on a fine planet, circling a fine young star. We meet to celebrate the accomplishments of modern civilization and to rejoice in our wisdom.

But our star is but one of the billion, trillion stars within the more than ten billion, trillion mile range of our largest telescopes. We know relatively little about these stars, and what lies between and beyond. Our earth is one of nine planets and their thirty moons which circle our sun, and which comprise the solar system. We know relatively little about the solar system; what we do know is largely derived from observations on our planet Earth during the last few hundred years of its brief few-billion-year history. Viewed in the eternity of time and the infinity of space, our "wisdom" shrinks to its proper perspective.

*Presented at the Century 21 Fair, Seattle Washington, May 8, 1962.

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It is man's nature, however, that he apply his intellect to expanding his knowledg'e about all .things. Thus, we find ourselve s busily engaged in a number ·of fascinating projects to explore the solar system by means of unmanned instrumented spacecraft. These experiments will unlock secrets of the universe once thought to lie beyond man's grasp. One day, man himself will accompany his instruments to these dis­tant wOI'lds.

Exploration of the solar system during the next decade will concentrate on the earth, sun, moon , and the near planets, Mars and Venus. The previous speaker, Dr. Newell, has discussed exploration of the earth and sun by means of sounding rockets and satellites. In this paper, I will briefly review our most active projects to explore the moon, Mars, and Venus.

SLIDE (SD62--716) What Are We Exploring

The first figure highlights those areas of ex­ploration receiving active current attention . Our heaviest program is directed toward exploration of the moon. The moon, which orbits the earth at only 239,000 miles distance, is the most convenient celes­tial body to explore, except for the earth i·tself. Its relative proximity means that it is easier to get to than the near planets, Mars and Venus . Less energy is required and the opportunities to launch are far more frequent, being nearly continuous com­pared to every 1-1/2 years for Venus and two years for Mars. Trip times are measured in days rather than months. In addition, communicating to and from the moon is far simpler than in the case of the plane'ts. To radio information back from Mars takes over 40,000 times the energy as to send the same information from the moon.

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Where landings a re des i r ed , the airless moon loses much of its energy advantage since rockets must replace the atmosphere as a braking device . However , where return flights are required, the sma l l gravity field of the moon, its lack of atmosphere, and i ts nearness, are of great advantage. For these and other reasons, the moon will continue to be the center of attention f or some time .

The greater difficulty in exploring the planets is more than compensated for by their t remendous in­terest to us. Whereas the moon may offer mo r e clues to the formatio n of the solar system, sin ce it is preserved in a near-original state , the planets more nearly approximate the earth and are most likely to have indigenous life forms. This par ti c u l arly applies to Mars and Venus s i nce their orbits about the sun are most like our own. The i r relative ly near orbits also make them easier to get to than Mercury, J upiter, and the outer planets . Thus , we are concentrating our planetary exploration on Mars and Venus .

Beyond the moon, Mars, and Venus, our far-ranging spacecraft will most likely plunge clos e to t he s un itself .

SLIDE (SD62 -7l 7) Why Are We Explo rin g?

It is easy for most people to see why we e ngage in satellite meteorology and communicat ions s ince the return from these programs will soon e x ceed the invest­ment. It is also relatively easy to a c cept t he de s ira ­bility of investigating space in the vi c inity of the earth, and its interactions with the s un; t h i s i s, after all, our own planet. That man s hould begin to learn to fly in this new environment of spac e c arries the same weight o f logic as the Wr ight brothe r s ' first flights.

Many people, however, have questioned the need for exploring the moon and beyond. There are many valid ways of answering this question; some good

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reasons are lis "ted in the second figure. From a scientific viewpoint, we want to unlock the secrets of nature : to search for extraterrestrial life, to determine the nature and origin of the solar system, to understand our sun, and to probe the mysteries of the universe. From a sociological viewpoint , we want to excel in science and technology as a nation. We do this by tackling the toughest problems of our day and, in so doing, our society receives a tremendous stimulus.

This program to explore the solar system costs about one quarter of one cent out of every tax dollar in FY 1962. Thus, each of you wage or salary earners worked about one hour to put the program a c ross . More effort will be required as we advance , but with it we will be building a priceless heritage for the future, one which we can be quite proud of . Those who don't take the time to enjoy this rare experience are foolish indeed.

SLIDE (SD62-718) Our Timetable

Every program should have a timetable , whether it is fixing the garage roof or flying to Mars . In past years, we have spelled out our plans throu gh the decade of the sixties. This year, I am going to limit myself to projects in which we are heavily e n ­gaged and in which we hope to complete successful missions by 1965.

The milestones of our program are shown in Figure 3. One is successfully passed .. In 196Q , Pioneer V was placed into orbit about the sun and remained in contact with the earth to a distance of 22.5 million miles. By the end of this year , we hope to have placed our first instrument on the moon wi th Project Ranger, and to have sent a Mariner spacecraft to Venus. During next year , we plan to obtain some very high resolution pictures of the lunar surface with Project Ranger. In 1964 , we hope to accomplish

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our first soft landing of an array of delicate instru­ments on the moon as part of the Surveyor project. Also in 1964, we plan to launch our first missions to Mars, and, hopefully, to land an instrumented capsule on this planet. By 1965, we plan to have a version of Surveyor orbiting the moon and taking comprehensive "aerial" photographs of the lunar surface.

SLIDE (SD62-7l9) The Rockets We Will Use

To accomplish these missions, we are dependent on the success of a few launch vehicle systems . These are shown in the fourth figure. It should be recognized that lunar and planetary missions require the very best performance that can be squeezed out of our launc h vehicles. It requires a velocity of about 2 5 , 000 miles per hour to escape the earth's gravity field and only 18,000 mph to go into low earth orbit; the escape mission thus requires about twice the energy. To get adequate payloads for our lunar and planetary missions it has been necessary to add complex upper stages t o our basic booster rockets, with attendant redu ctions in reliability.

The Atlas - Agena, which is used for early Ranger and Mariner missions will launc h about 750 pounds to the moon and 450 to the near planets. We have scheduled heavy usage of this vehicle through 1964.

The Atlas-Centaur launch vehicle represents a great step forward in both performance and technology. This vehicle is the first to use the very high energy pro­pellant combination of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxy­gen. These propellants are over 30% more efficient than the combination of hydrocarbon fuels and liquid oxygen. The Atlas-Centaur will launch about 2300 pounds to the moon and 1300 pounds to the near planets. It is expected to be operational in 1964.

Although the Saturn rocket series is not req~ired for the projects detailed herein, it is scheduled for

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use i n Pro j ect Prospector and Project Voya ger in the l a t t er par t of this decade . Prospector i s planned as a l arge automated lunar landing craft to be used in di r ect l o g i stic support of manned operations and for - selec t e d unmanned scientific missions . Voyager is the unmanned planetary explorer of t,h e futu re I dwar fi n g t he Mar i ner series now under d evelopment . The satur n s h own here is the first of the new multi­engine series. Designed as a two-stage vehic le, it will p l a ce 2 0 , 00 0 pounds i nto an earth orbit .

SLIDE (SD6 2-255) Lunar Program - Spacecraft

The spacecraft wh ich will carry our first in­str umen t s t o t h e moon are illustrated i n Figure 5. Ranger A, B, a nd C are not three different space­c r aft but r ather three variations of a single space­craft d e sig ned t o accomplish d if ferent missions . Ranger A was launched on two partia l ly successful spac ecraft test f l ights in 1961. Ranger B has been launc hed twice t h is year in attempts to acc omplish several p r ime s cientific objec tives. Firs t , it is designed to obtain television pictures of the lunar s u rface of sufficient definition to detect objec t s the size of a utomobiles. Such pictures would have over 200 times t h e resolution of our best telesc opic photogr aphy f r om earth. Secondly , Ranger B is de- ' signed to l and a n instrumented capsule on the lunar s u rface. Th is cap sule will contain a sensitive seismomete r to detect l unar vibrations which would provide c lues to the structure of the moon and the origin of the s o lar system . Our third launch of t his pay load , wh ich is scheduled later this y ear , will c arry t wo smal l bombs to insure local lunar tremors .

On Ranger C, t h e capsule and retrorocket have been replaced with a television package c ontaining seven TV telescopes. These spacecra f t will be flown into the moon wi th n o attempt to slow them d own . Before impact, h owever, the system is d esigned to

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radio back to earth pictures containing enough detail to permit detection of objects the size of a basket­ball. Aside from the great intrinsic scientific value of the Ranger photography , we will obtain the first visual information of suffi c ient quality to guide the designers of the Apollo manned landing system.

SLIDE (SD62 -2 56) Lunar Program - Spacecraft

With Project Surveyor , Figure 6 , we will take a giant stride beyond the Ranger. Surveyor will be utilized in a t wo-pronged assault on the mysteries of the lunar surface. As our first spacecraft c apable of true soft landings on the moon , Surveyor A will land a multiplicity of sensitive equipment, inc l ud ing TV cameras and sensitive instrumen t.s for ·the physical and chemical analysis of the surface and subsurface.

The Surveyor B is a modification of the lander which will be designed for injection into an orbit about the moon . Virtual l y complete lunar photo reconnaissance coverage will be obtainable. Com­bining the broad area photo coverage with highly detailed spot sampling , s hould g i ve us an excellent understanding of the ltinar terrain and make it possible to select tentative landing sites for the unmanned and manned missions to follow . 'rhe Surve yor orbiter will also monitor solar rad iat ion and other aspects of the l u nar environment throughou~ its· life ­time.

SLIDE (SD62-720) Target Moon

The manne r in which t .he various phases of t.he un ­manned luna r program blend together is highlighted i n Figure 7. The first three Rangers will all be aimed at thE;:! relatively small circle indicated in red. This landing area coincides with a vertical descent which is advantageous for both landing the c apsule and sur­face photography. The h i gh resolution TV Ranger series will be programmed to stray from this optimum aiming

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point in order to obtain greater coverage , as illus­trated by the red ellipse. The Surveyor is designed to land within -the qua:r ter of the lunar surface bounded in purple . Th'is flexib ility does not require approach angles shallower than 45 0

• The Surveyor orbiter, however, can provide complete lunar photo­graphic coverage in the indicated polar orbit.

I would now like to show you a filmed progress report on our three major projects to e xplore the solar system -- Ranger, Surveyor, and Mariner. In discussing Mariner, the film will thus introduce the last portion of today's talk , the planetary p r ogram.

Exploration of the Solar System -Progress Report

(20 minute narrated film)

On April 23, subsequent to the preparation of this film, the second Ranger was launched to the moon. The launch vehicle performed very well , resulting in a lunar impact on the hidden side of the moon. How­ever, failure in the complex spacecraft rendered most of the Ranger systems inoperative and resulted in loss of the scientific objectives of the flight. The unqualified success of the Atlas-Agena B for the first time in the Ranger series , however, has reassured us of eventual success in this difficult mission.

SLIDE (S62 -262) Planetary Program - Spacecraft

No country has yet launched a successful probe to a planet. Sov iet attempts have met with failure. We have yet to try. This summer will probably see both nations launch spacecraft toward Venus . Ours will be called Mariner R and is shown in Figure 8. As you will recall from the film, Mariner R will be

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launched with an Atlas -Agena and will weigh about 450 pounds . In addition to several instruments t o measure the radi a tion s and fields of interplanet ary space and in the vicinity of the planet , a r adio ­me t er and infra-red spectrometer will be used to scan the planet as the spacecraft flies b y. These ins t r uments will make critical measurements of the planet ' s atmosphere and surface tempe r atures wh ich will b e not only of great scientific interest but will aid us in the design of later landing systems.

SLIDE (S 62-263) Planetary Program - Spac ecraft

Our first planetary landings will have to awai t an advanced spacecraft called Mariner B. (Figure 9) Mariner B wi ll be launched in late 1964 with the new At las-Ce ntaur rocket . Designed for f light to either Mars o r Venus , this 1200- 1400 pound spacecraft will fi r st be u sed in the Mars attempts. .L'\s the, figure s hows, a l and ing capsule is inc luded in th~recent

v e r s i on o f t h e design. This capsule will be guided toward t he planet by the basic spacecraft wh i ch will then fl y b y the planet. While the capsule enters the atmosphere and lands , the spacecraft will p~r­form s c anning experiments as will t h e Mariner R on Venus, but with a greater degree of sophistication.

Wi th a capsule on the surface of Mars may well come the f irst proof of extraterrestrial life !

SLIDE (S62- 562) Detection of Extraterrestrial Life

Detect i on of extraterr estrial life would un ­doubtedly c onstitute one of the great scientific discoveries of history. Observations of Mars from earth have given us reason to believe that some form of life may exist there . What this life might be like , one c a n only surmise at t h is time. We are working on a number o f experiments to detect such life . Becau s e o f t he universal interest in t h is

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subject, I have elected to discuss it briefly, with the intent of illustrating the type of scientific thinking which is the very foundation of our space program.

Figure 10 shows an artist's conception of a capsule after landing on the Martian surface. Two life detection schemes are illustrated . The simplest to understand is based on recognition of life forms. For this purpose, a television telescope is shown erected and focused on plant life growing by a nearby rock. Such pictures would be radioed to earth for interpretation. Another recognition technique is that of using a television micros c ope to observe soil samples picked up from the surface and sub­surface. Microorganisms might thus be recognized.

In the left-hand portion of the figure is a sche­matic drawing of a device developed by Resources Re­search, Inc . This device, like many others under study, depends on detection of reproduction -- a function peculiar to living matter. This part icular instrument is unique, however, in the manner in which this is done. A string is ejected from the capsule and pulled back into the instrument after d ragging across the soil . Once inside , the instrument is sealed and a "universal" nutrient designed to support many types of life is injected into the chamber con­taining the string. If the nutrient suits t he type of microorganisms which may exist on Mars , and if these microorganisms behave as ours do on earth , they will reproduce and generate carbon diox ide at a r ate proportional to the reproduction. Since the food is II spiked)' so to speak, with radioactive carbon 14 , the generated gas is also radioact!ve . The radioactivity of this gas is detected by a G~iger-typ'e counter which is otherwise shielded from the nutrient . The resulting count rate is telemetered to earth and the tra c e illus­trated in the small insert would mean life.

The problem, of course , is not as simple as I have described it, but enough competent scientists are working on it to insure eventual detection of life if it is really there .

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SLIDE (SD62-721) Experiments and Experimenters

My last fig-ure is designed to illustrate the g-r'eat involvement of the scientific community in the national space program. The scientific parti­cipants in the lunar and planetary prog-ram total about 100 from universities, 65 from government laboratories, and 12 from industrial laboratories. The geophysics and astronomy program currently involves about 113 university scientists, 76 government, and 59 from industrial and non­profit organizations . (Some scientists working on several experiments appear more than once in these statistics.)

It is on these men that the ultimate scien-­tific value of the program rests. Their efforts ·~il l not only yield a host of new scientific :discoveries, but will breed anew generation of scientists .

End

WHY A

TO UNLOCK THE SECRETS OF NATURE

• SEARCH FOR EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE .

• DETERMINE THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF SOLAR SYSTEM

·UNDERSTAND OUR SUN

• PROBE THE MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

TO EXCEL IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

• UNDERTAKE THE MOST CHALLENGING PROBLEMS

• STIMULATE OUR SOCIETY

SD62-717

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FIRST TRUE DEEP SPACE

PROBE

FIRST LUNAR LANDING

FIRST FLIGHT TO VENUS

FIRST "SOFT" LUNAR

LANDING

FIRST LANDING ON MARS

FIRST LUNAR ORBITER

,

LUNAR PROGRAM-SPACECRAFT

RANGER A.

• SPACECRAFT TEST • INTERPLANETARY

MEASUREMENTS

RANGE-R C

• LUNAR IMPACT • HIGH - "SOLUTION TV

RANGER B

• LUNAR IMPACT • TV RECONNAISSANCE • LANDING CAPSULE

562 -255

----­, ....

,

, ," - ".. - ED-_ I

EXPERIMENTS AND EXPERIMENTERS

PARTICIPATING SCIENTISTS UNIV. GOVT. OTHER

LUNAR AND PLANETARY TOTALS 100 65 12 - - -LUNAR PHOTOGRAPHY 2 3

LUNAR SURFACE ANALYSIS 26 16 1

PLANETARY ATMOSPHERES AND SURFACE 29 19 3

INTERPLANET ARY RADIATIONS AND FIELDS 31 27 1

EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE 12 7

GEOPHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY TOTALS 113 76 59

5062-721