INSTRUMENT_HOST_DESC |
Instrument Host Overview
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The Apollo 14 Lunar Module (LM) ''Antares'' was the third crewed
vehicle to land on the Moon. It carried two astronauts, Commander Alan
B. Shepard Jr. and LM pilot Edgar D. Mitchell, the fifth and sixth men
to walk on the Moon. Also included on the LM was the Apollo Lunar
Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP) containing scientific experiments
to be deployed and left on the lunar surface and other scientific and
sample collection apparatus.
The LM separated from the Command/Service Module (CSM) at 04:50:44 UT
and landed at 09:18:11 UT (4:18:11 a.m. EST) on 5 February 1971 in the
lunar highlands near the crater Fra Mauro at 3.6453 S latitude, 17.4714
W longitude (IAU Mean Earth Polar Axis coordinate system
[DAVIES&COLVIN2000]). The LM landed on the slope of a small
depression, tilted at 8 degrees. Shepard and Mitchell made two moonwalk
extra-vehicular activities (EVAs) totaling 9 hours, 23 minutes. The
first EVA began at 14:42:13 UT and ended at 19:30:03 UT. During this
first EVA the astronauts deployed the ALSEP and other experiments.
During the second EVA, which took place from 8:11:15 to 12:45:56 UT on
6 February, the astronauts walked almost to the rim of nearby Cone
crater, collecting samples along the traverse. At the end of this walk
Shepard used a contingency sampler with a 6-iron connected to the end
to hit two golf balls. The astronauts traversed a total of 3.45 km and
collected 42.28 kg of lunar samples.
The LM lifted off the Moon on 6 February at 18:48:42 UT after 33 hours
31 minutes on the lunar surface. After docking with the CSM (piloted
by Stuart A. Roosa) at 20:35:53 UT, the LM was jettisoned at 22:48:00
UT and impacted the Moon at 3.42 S, 19.67 W, between the Apollo 12 and
Apollo 14 seismic stations, at 00:45:25 UT on 7 February.
Lunar Module Spacecraft and Subsystems
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The lunar module was a two-stage vehicle designed for space
operations near and on the Moon. The spacecraft mass of 15,264 kg
was the mass of the LM including astronauts, expendables, and 11,010
kg of propellants. The fully fueled mass of the ascent stage was
4943 kg and the descent stage 10,334 kg. The ascent and descent
stages of the LM operated as a unit until staging, when the ascent
stage functioned as a single spacecraft for rendezvous and docking
with the command and service module (CSM). The descent stage
comprised the lower part of the spacecraft and was an octagonal prism
4.2 meters across and 1.7 m thick. Four landing legs with round
footpads were mounted on the sides of the descent stage and held the
bottom of the stage 1.5 m above the surface. The distance between
the ends of the footpads on opposite landing legs was 9.4 m. One of
the legs had a small astronaut egress platform and ladder. A one
meter long conical descent engine skirt protruded from the bottom of
the stage. The descent stage contained the landing rocket, two tanks
of aerozine 50 fuel, two tanks of nitrogen tetroxide oxidizer, water,
oxygen and helium tanks and storage space for the lunar equipment and
experiments, and in the case of Apollo 15, 16, and 17, the lunar
rover. The descent stage served as a platform for launching the
ascent stage and was left behind on the Moon.
The ascent stage was an irregularly shaped unit approximately 2.8 m
high and 4.0 by 4.3 meters in width mounted on top of the descent
stage. The ascent stage housed the astronauts in a pressurized crew
compartment with a volume of 6.65 cubic meters. There was an
ingress-egress hatch in one side and a docking hatch for connecting
to the CSM on top. Also mounted along the top were a parabolic
rendezvous radar antenna, a steerable parabolic S-band antenna, and 2
in-flight VHF antennas. Two triangular windows were above and to
either side of the egress hatch and four thrust chamber assemblies
were mounted around the sides. At the base of the assembly was the
ascent engine. The stage also contained an aerozine 50 fuel and an
oxidizer tank, and helium, liquid oxygen, gaseous oxygen, and
reaction control fuel tanks. There were no seats in the LM. A
control console was mounted in the front of the crew compartment
above the ingress-egress hatch and between the windows and two more
control panels mounted on the side walls. The ascent stage was
launched from the Moon at the end of lunar surface operations and
returned the astronauts to the CSM.
The descent engine was a deep-throttling ablative rocket with a
maximum thrust of about 45,000 N mounted on a gimbal ring in the
center of the descent stage. The ascent engine was a fixed,
constant-thrust rocket with a thrust of about 15,000 N. Maneuvering
was achieved via the reaction control system, which consisted of the
four thrust modules, each one composed of four 450 N thrust chambers
and nozzles pointing in different directions. Telemetry, TV, voice,
and range communications with Earth were all via the S-band antenna.
VHF was used for communications between the astronauts and the LM,
and the LM and orbiting CSM. There were redundant tranceivers and
equipment for both S-band and VHF. An environmental control system
recycled oxygen and maintained temperature in the electronics and
cabin. Power was provided by 6 silver-zinc batteries. Guidance and
navigation control were provided by a radar ranging system, an
inertial measurement unit consisting of gyroscopes and
accelerometers, and the Apollo guidance computer.
Scientific Experiments
----------------------
The following scientific experiments were performed on board or at
the Apollo 14 Lunar Module:
- The Photography Experiment documented the deployment of
experiments, augmented crew observations and descriptions of the
lunar traverses, and recorded the effects of the interaction
between Apollo equipment and the lunar surface.
- The Lunar Field Geology Experiment entailed the collection and
documentation fo geologic rock samples.
- The Laser Ranging Retroreflector permitted ground-based stations to
conduct short-pulse laser ranging to a corner reflector array on
the lunar surface at the Fra Mauro site.
- Lunar Portable Magnetometer obtained additional scientific
information about the location, strength, and dimensions of local
magnetic sources.
- The Soil Mechanics Experiment studied the properties of the lunar
soil.
- The Solar Wind Composition Experiment collected samples of the
solar wind for analysis on Earth.
- The S-Band Transponder Experiment measured the lunar gravitational
field by observing the dynamical motion of the spacecraft in free
fall orbits to provide information about the distribution of lunar
mass.
For more information about the lunar module and its experiments, see
the Apollo 14 preliminary science report (1971) [APOLLO14A1971].
This instrument host description was provided by the NASA National Space
Science Data Center (NSSDC).
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REFERENCE_DESCRIPTION |
Apollo 14 Preliminary Science Report, NASA SP-272, 302 pages, Washington, D.C.,
1971.
Davies, M.E., and T.R. Colvin, Lunar coordinates in the regions of the Apollo
landers, Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 105, Issue E8, pages
20,227-20,280, 2000, doi:10.1029/1999JE001165.
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