Month: August 2013

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Lunar Orbiter V’s Mountains: Improving The View (Update)


Update: Compare our image (left) with the best quality USGS image (right) – Click on image to enlarge. Here’s the full resolution TIFF image (caution: over 600MB). By the way the odd craters in the middle are Messier A and B.


Dennis Wingo: I love looking at the Moon. It is one of my little joys in doing the LOIRP project that I get to look at amazing images of the Moon that we get that look so incredible. Just by chance yesterday I was looking through some processed framelets because I had a discrepancy between what I was recording in my log book of the Lunar Orbiter sequence numbers and the framelets on the tapes as recorded by NASA. I happened upon image LOV-041M from tapes W5-154, 155.
I started looking at the framelets and found the super cool oblique shots interesting when looking at them on the 30″ Apple high res monitor. We just had to get that image and so we found that we were missing a few framelets due to a tape change and thus we got the rest off of a Goldstone tape (G5-145).
Last night Austin ran the framelets through our assembly and image processing program and left me the frame. I loaded it on my computer this morning and was just simply blown away by it when zooming in. It seriously looks like you are on a spacecraft about 50 km above the surface looking down. The first image here is a zoom into the upper right quadrant of that image. The second image is from the Arizona State Quickmap looking straight down into the same area.
One thing that is just so fascinating to me is how much more I get out of the oblique images when trying to get a sense of an area. You can actually see how high a mountain is that just looks like a bump when looking down on it from a vertical perspective. This is making me revise my estimation of the value of many of the LO images because it is extremely difficult for the LROC camera, if not impossible, to get images like this.
Today the full res frame will go up on the NLSI web server and we will provide the link to the 691 megabyte image. Hope you have a good network connection! I will post the link to the high res image when Teague gets it on the server! Update: Here’s the full resolution image (over 600MB)
Click on images to enlarge

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Reassembling a Third FR-900 Tape Drive


Dennis Wingo: This is Jacob Gold’s last days with us and one of the projects that we have wanted to get done is to reassemble the third FR-900 tape drive. We are not going to try and get it working as it is a record only machine and we don’t really need to record anything! However, we can use it to possibly raise money. We want to get another head and if we can get $10k of it that would be great. NOTE. This thing weighs 900 lbs when reassembled and thus we are NOT going to ship it out of the Bay area. We MIGHT ship it to LA as will fit in the back of my truck. Just a thought. And here are a couple of pictures of Jacob working on the machine today.

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Lunar Orbiter V View: Mountains on The Moon


Dennis Wingo: These two images here were captured from a frame let of our W5-155 tape, which is from image LOV-041M. The original image, at LPI is here. This is what our tiny blow up of that region looks like. We have both the raw (bottom) and the inverted (top) positive image, but with no other processing. We are blown away with what it looks like on the screen. Click on images to enlarge. We are looking forward to start seeing some image output!

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LOIRP Status Report 12 August 2013

Dennis Wingo: Doing a bunch of clean up today, paperwork and processing framelets! That, to us, amazing image of the horizon from LOV-041, was a highlight. Austin is processing the entire medium resolution image and it should look great in full resolution.
We did run one tape today as the medium resolution image LOV-041m was spread across two tapes and was missing a few framelets. So our head, like Wesley in the movie princess bride, is just mostly dead. We use it when we absolutely have to in order to grab critical pieces of images. So we processed tape G5-145 today. Since we only needed a few framelets off it it, that one is considered done as it overlapped W5-154 and W5-155 and W5-018. Looks like this may help prove the thesis of a lot of overlaps in LOV. It was easy to tell the overlap as the capture time from all of the ground stations is in GMT time.
Here are the images for the tapes that were run last Thursday and Friday that are not recorded yet.
W5-151, partial capture 044M, 045H
W5-152, partial capture LOV-043M, 042M, complete capture 044H
W5-153, partial capture LOV-042M, 043H
W5-154, partial capture LOV-043H (completes image), partial capture 041M,
W5-155, partial capture LOV-041M (G5-145 completes this image), complete capture 042H
W5-156, complete capture LOV-040M, 041H (Messier and Messier A high res)
W5-157, complete capture LOV-039M, partial capture 040H,
W5-158, complete capture LOV-038M, 039H, partial capture 040H (completes image)
W5-159, partial capture LOV-037M, complete capture 038H
W5-160, complete capture 036M, 037H, partial capture 035M
W5-161, partial capture LOV-012H
W5-162, partial capture LOV-012H, 011H, complete capture 010M
W5-163, partial capture LOV-011H, 010H, complete capture 009M
It annoys me that toward the end here they changed tapes in the middle of a high resolution or medium resolution frame, even though the missing pieces are found on other tapes.

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LOIRP Status Report 7-8 August 2013

Dennis Wingo: End of Day August 8, 2013
Lots of tapes done today. Got all the way from W5-143 to W5-158. Not quite as good as it looks as we already had captured 156 and 157 early in the year, they being the tapes for LOV-041 the oblique crater Messier and Messier A. We have five tapes to go tomorrow and we will be done with Woomera tapes for LOV!
Then as soon as Austin gets the report together on the framelets captured we will start on the Goldstone LOV tapes. I have already opened a couple of cans and it looks like they started getting data a few days earlier….
Ok, tapes and images for today…
W5-143, partial capture LOV-067H, complete capture 065M, 066H
W5-144, partial capture LOV-064M, complete capture 065H
W5-145, partial capture LOV-063M, complete capture 064H
W5-146, partial capture LOV-062M, 063H
W5-147, partial capture LOV-063H (completes image)
W5-148, partial capture LOV-061M, complete capture 062H
W5-149, partial capture LOV-060M, complete capture 061H
W5-150, partial capture LOV-059M, 050H
Will do the rest in the morning, found an error in the original NASA document but need time to figure out.
Five more to go for Woomera LOV!
Mid Day, August 8, 2013
Running tape again today. Lots of looong captures….. Running W5-148 right now. Hope to get into the mid 50’s today and be done with Woomera tomorrow!
Here are the tapes from yesterday…
W5-138, complete capture LOV-087M, 088H
W5-139, partial capture LOV-070H
W5-140, complete capture LOV-068M, 069H
W5-141, complete capture LOV-067M, 068H
W5-142, complete capture LOV-066M, partial capture 067H
Toward the end of the day today status, August 7, 2013.
I did not start doing tapes until the afternoon as I had a paper to get out today. Right now I am running W5-142. Here are the tapes that we did yesterday.
W5-124, partial capture LOV-098M, 099H, (completes images) 097M [image overlap with W5-38]
W5-125, partial capture LOV-097M, 098H
W5-126, partial capture LOV-098H (completes image) partial capture 096M
W5-127, partial capture LOV-096M, complete capture 097H
W5-128, complete capture LOV-095M, partial capture 096H (completes image) [image overlap with W5-36]
W5-129, partial capture LOV-095H [image overlap with W5-36]
W5-130, partial capture LOV-095H (completes image finally!)
W5-131, partial capture LOV-093M, complete capture 094H
W5-132, partial capture LOV-092M, (completes image), complete capture 093H [image overlap with W5-33]
W5-133, complete capture LOV-091M, 092H
W5-134, partial capture LOV-090M, 091H
W5-135, partial capture LOV-091H (completes image)
W5-136, complete capture LOV-089M, 090H
W5-137, complete capture LOV-088M, 089H
That is all from yesterday
The rest at the end of the day….

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LOIRP Status Report 6 August 2013

Dennis Wingo: Got a lot of tapes done yesterday but the accounting is getting more difficult due to the overlaps now between the priority readouts and the final readouts.
This is shortening the amount of tape that has to be run but it is also going to make Austin’s job of piecing the images together more difficult as well.
W5-111, complete capture LOV-142M,143H
W5-112, partial capture LOV-141M, 142H
W5-113, complete capture LOV-123M, 124H, partial capture 122M
W5-114, partial capture LOV-122M, 122H, complete capture 123H, 121M
W5-115, partial capture LOV-122H (completes image)
W5-116, partial capture LOV-120M, complete capture 121H
W5-117, partial capture LOV-119M, 120H
W5-118, complete capture 118M, partial capture 119H (completes image) [image overalp with W5-042]
W5-119, partial capture LOV-117M [image overlap with W5-042], partial capture 118H
W5-120, partial capture LOV-118H
W5-121, partial capture LOV-116M, 117H
W5-122, partial capture LOV-116H [image overlap with W5-043],
W5-123, complete capture LOV-114M, 115H, partial capture 113M
It is going to get a lot more complicated from here on out. As I suspected there is considerable overlap both within a single ground station readout (priority readout vs final readout, but we have to deal with the same thing from the other ground stations.
We are already up to W5-133 today due to the overlaps. This is good, but it makes our lives more difficult in accounting!

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LOIRP Status Report 5 August 2013

Status Monday end of day. We got up through W5-123 today, 13 tapes, a good day. What we have started to find is overlaps between the priority readout and the final readout. I figured this considering the number of tapes we have but this will lower the number of tapes we have to run. We saved about 150 framelets or one long tape spread over three tapes today. Saves head life as well!!
Tomorrow morning we will skip an entire tape and start on W5-125.
That means we have 36 or fewer tapes to go to finish Woomera this week!

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Mike Wargo

Keith’s note: According the NLSI Twitter: “NASA’s chief exploration scientist, Mike Wargo, passed away unexpectedly yesterday. We will miss his leadership and friendship enormously.” I’ll post more information as I receive it. Very sad – Mike was such a nice person and believed in space exploration in a very personal way. He was also a big supporter of the LOIRP.
NASA Lunar Exploration Analysis Group Statement on the Passing of Dr. Michael Wargo
“The Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG) on behalf of the broader lunar community wishes to expresses its deep shock and sadness at the news that Dr. Mike Wargo passed away unexpectedly over the weekend of August 3-4, 2013. Mike was the Executive Secretary of LEAG and championed the Moon at NASA HQ.”
Keith’s update: This note is being circulated within and outside of NASA: “With deep sadness, I must tell you that our friend and colleague, Mike Wargo, passed away unexpectedly over the weekend. This news comes as a great shock to us all, and he will be missed terribly. In our grief, let us remember how Mike inspired us with his inexhaustible energy and enthusiasm, his hearty laugh and booming voice, and his dedication to NASA. Mike was HEOMD’s chief exploration scientist, and his contributions to human exploration were many. He represented the directorate on the science teams for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and LCROSS missions, and most recently, he was a member of the Mars 2020 Science Definition Team. Mike led by example, working closely with colleagues in the lunar, planetary, and Mars science communities, to build collaborative and highly productive projects for both Exploration and Science. Please keep his wife Adele and his family in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time. We will let you know about plans for the funeral and a NASA memorial service once they have been made.”

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Lunar Orbiter Tracking Stations


Dennis Wingo: We often talk about the ground stations for Lunar Orbiter. Here is a chart that shows the coverage of the DSIF (Deep Space Instrumentation Facility) the precursor of the Deep Space Network (DSN). for Woomera, Goldstone, and Johannesburg. In 1965 when this graphic was created, the Madrid station was still under construction. You can see the overlap between Woomera and Goldstone quite clearly. Out to lunar distance the overlap is even greater. Larger image.

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LOIRP Status Report 2 August 2013


Dennis Wingo: These are the tapes we processed in the past three weeks. (larger image). Wow, when the week started, I started capturing tape W5-38. At this moment tape W5-110 is playing. However, tapes 53-62 and tapes 99-104 had been previously captured. So subtract 15 tapes and we have 58 tapes captured this week. That certainly is a record for the project. Here are the tapes captured today.
W5-095, complete capture LOV-176H
W5-096, complete capture LOV-174M, 175H
W5-097, partial capture LOV-173M, complete capture 174H
W5-098, complete capture LOV-172M, 173H
W5-99, (captured earlier in year)
W5-100 (captured earlier in year)
W5-101 (captured earlier in year)
W5-102 (captured earlier in year)
W5-103 (captured earlier in year)
W5-104 (captured earlier in year)
W5-105, partial capture LOV-134H (completes image), complete capture 132M
W5-106, complete capture 133H, 131M
W5-107, complete capture 132H, 130M
W5-108, partial capture 131H, 130H, complete capture 129M
W5-109, partial capture 130H (completes image), complete capture 128M
W5-110, partial capture 129H, complete capture 127M
It is my goal for next week to complete the captures for LOV-Woomera. That will be 51 tapes, a few less than this week.
A project record.

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NASA Technoarchaeology at University of Alabama Huntsville

University of Alabama Huntsville: With billions of dollars of past space research at risk of being lost forever, Dr. Charles Lundquist is running a race against technology and time.
Director of the Interactive Projects Office at The University of Alabama in Huntsville’s Research Institute, the 85-year-old Dr. Lundquist spent 40 years in high-level positions with the U.S. Army, the Army Ballistic Missile Agency, NASA, and finally the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He officially retired in 1999. Working as a volunteer since then, he spends his time sleuthing for past research from the Army, NASA and private papers, as well as collecting oral histories from NASA retirees and others. All are added to an archive on the ground floor of UAH’s M. Louis Salmon Library, where Anne Coleman is a reference librarian and head of Archives and Special Collections. The archives preserve continued access for future historians, scholars and students.
Image: Dr. Charles Lundquist, director of Interactive Projects at the UAH Research Center, and Anne Coleman, reference librarian and head of Archives and Special Collections, with obsolete media containing data from the U.S. space program. The IBM printout that Dr. Lundquist is reading is the only surviving copy of the telemetry he needed for research from NASA’s Gravity Probe A mission. The original tape from the 1976 flight is no longer readable. Larger image

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