Category: LOIRP

Thursday 12 June 2009: noon: Come hear Dennis Wingo of the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project (LOIRP) discuss their use of Mac OS X technology to save our Space Race heritage. LOIRP is retrieving, digitizing and publishing high-resolution pictures of the Moon captured by five NASA space probes ahead of the Apollo 11 moon landings in 1969. These tapes – rescued from destruction by a determined NASA archivist – represent some of the highest-resolution pictures ever taken of the Moon’s surface and are a priceless piece of history.
More info at http://developer.apple.com/wwdc/sciencemedicine/

Old Moon Images Get Modern Makeover, Fox
Old Moon Images Get Modern Makeover, LiveScience
“Dennis Wingo, LOIRP’s team leader, detailed the group’s work in progress during last week’s 40th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Teamed with SpaceRef.com, LOIRP’s saga is one of acquiring the last surviving Ampex FR-900 machinery that can play analog image data from the Lunar Orbiter spacecraft. Wingo noted that the work is backed by NASA’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, the space agency’s Innovative Partnership Program, along with private organizations, making it possible to overhaul old equipment, digitally upgrade and clean-up the imagery via software. LOIRP is located at NASA’s Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. There, project members are taking the analog data, converting it into digital form and reconstructing the images. By moving them into the digital domain, Wingo said, the photos now offer a higher dynamic range and resolution than the original pictures, he added. “We’re going to be releasing these to the whole world,” Wingo said. Use of the refreshed images, contrasted to what NASA’s upcoming Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission is slated to produce, has an immediate scientific benefit. That is, what is the frequency of impacts on the Moon’s already substantially crater-pocked surface? “We’ll be able to get crater counts,” Wingo told SPACE.com. “LRO imagery of the same terrain imaged decades ago will provide a crater count over the last 40 years.”

NASA’s early lunar images, in a new light, Los Angeles Times
“Rising over the battered surface of the moon, Earth loomed in a shimmering arc covered in a swirling skin of clouds. The image, taken in 1966 by NASA’s robotic probe Lunar Orbiter 1, presented a stunning juxtaposition of planet and moon that no earthling had ever seen before. It was dubbed the Picture of the Century. “The most beautiful thing I’d ever seen,” remembered Keith Cowing, who saw it as an 11-year-old and credited it with eventually luring him to work for NASA. But in the mad rush of discovery, even the breathtaking can get mislaid. But in the mad rush of discovery, even the breathtaking can get mislaid. NASA was so preoccupied with getting an astronaut to the moon ahead of the Soviets that little attention was paid to the mountains of scientific data that flowed back to Earth from its early space missions. The data, stored on miles of fragile tapes, grew into mountains that were packed up and sent to a government warehouse with crates of other stuff. And so they eventually came to the attention of Nancy Evans, a no-nonsense woman with flaming red hair that fit her sometimes-impatient nature.”

I am proud to announce that the LOIRP Image recovery project will be presenting a 3 minute video at the 2009 Santa Cruz Film Festival. This is a major northern California cultural event and probably the first time in 20 years that a space themed entry has been invited to present. This film festival is attended by thousands and the attendees represent the top tier of the cultural elite of the San Francisco and northern California, including the regents of the University of California system, political, and business leaders.
Website http://www.santacruzfilmfestival.org/
Our presentation will be themed “In Praise of Old Men”, which will be a 3 minute video, beginning with the original Lunar Orbiter program in the 1960’s and segueing to our image and video record of bringing the marvels of 1960’s technology back to life with a focus on the retirees who have been instrumental in our efforts. It is a praise of this incredibly competent generation that took us to the Moon, and who even in their golden years, are an inspiration to the younger generation in their abilities.
The video will end with some of the marvelous pictures of the Moon that we are getting now, and ending with an incredible image of the black and white Earth, lonely in the backdrop of space, derived from Lunar Orbiter I and V images.
At the end we will auction off three high resolution prints as part of a Charity event at the festival and our intrepid Center Director, Dr. Pete Worden will participate with the head of the film festival in the auction.
This will be a great way to bring the 60’s, the role of NASA in the popular culture of the era, and to honor the people who helped to make that a reality.
Dennis Wingo
LOIRP Project Lead

We are still making progress and this report will outline what has happened since the last report on January 20.
General Statement
A bit of context is necessary here. The first machine continues to perform well. There are problems that were anticipated that we are dealing with. One of the overall reliability issues is that many electronic parts in the machine are customer Ampex hybrid circuits that are obviously not available anymore. Figure 1 shows what we have done to overcome this:

Figure 1: Capstan Motor Driver Assembly Before (left) and After (right) Modifications. Copyright 2009 LOIRP reproduction or republication prohibited without prior written permission.

Continue reading “Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project (LOIRP) Progress Report 5 February 2009”