Dennis Wingo: A funny story from today. I was running a Lunar Orbiter tape today and all of a sudden I started hearing music coming from the audio speaker. It was really nice, staring out with a piano solo and then a couple of other pieces then a full on concert by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass.
It was really cool to hear this old sixties music coming across the deep space network. Even funnier is that about ten minutes after it started, Ken Zin wandered over and asked if that was coming from the speaker. We laughed about it and then a little while later our new student Marco came out and was wondering where the hell the music was coming from.
We all had a good laugh today listening to the Deep Space Music Network!
Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project (LOIRP) Status 11 November 2013
Status, near end of day November 11, 2013
Christopher reminded me with his question to note something to the group. We literally have dozens of Lunar Orbiter V images that are not in the LPI database at www.lpi.usra.edu. I, like most everyone else that deals with lunar images loves their dataset and have used it ever since it came on line in the 1990’s. Without their work, our work would have been ten times harder, especially during our learning period.
This may be our payback to them in that we welcome them, when we get our images done, to mirror the ones that we are capturing now. There is a lot of interesting stuff in these images. I have no idea why they are not in the LPI database but soon we all can see these marvelous 45 year old images!
We had some computer problems this morning and we have had some pretty long captures so have not done a ton of tapes today. We will end at M5-069. We are officially on the final readout and Austin has finished our handy dandy notebook that incorporates all of the frame lets captured so far from Goldstone and Woomera that makes my job of avoiding a lot of overlapping captures easier.
Today we have…..
M5-058, not needed, overlaps with W5-085
M5-059, partial capture LOV-202H (completes image with overlap of W5-086)
M5-060, complete capture LOV-200M, partial capture 201H
M5-061, not needed, overlaps with W5-085
M5-062, not needed, overlaps with W5-086
M5-063, head clogs, will rerun after baking the tape
M5-064, complete capture LOV-199M, 200H, partial capture 198M
M5-065, partial capture LOV-198M (completes image), complete capture 199H
M5-066, complete capture LOV-197M, 198H
M5-067, complete capture LOV-196M
M5-068, partial capture LOV-194M
M5-069, partial capture LOV-194M (completes image), complete capture 195H
Status, morning of November 11, 2013
Here is the tape recap for the last few days.
M5-023, not needed, overlaps with W5-145,146
M5-024, not needed, overlaps with W5-143
M5-025, not needed, overlaps with W5-143,144
M5-026, not needed, overlaps with W5-134,135
M5-027, not needed, overlaps with W5-135,136
M5-028, not needed, overlaps with W5-139, G5-032,033
M5-029, partial capture, LOV-106H (completes image, overlaps with G5-111)
M5-030, not needed, overlaps with G5-111
M5-031, partial capture LOV-109H
M5-032, partial capture LOV-109H (completes image)
M5-033, complete capture LOV-107M, partial capture 108H
M5-034, partial capture LOV-112H
M5-035, partial capture LOV-112H (completes image), complete capture 110M, partial capture 111H (overlaps with G5-037 [I think])
M5-036, partial capture LOV-132M, complete capture 133H (overlaps with G5-100)
M5-037, partial capture, LOV-131M (completes image with an overlap with G5-101)
M5-038, partial capture LOV-130M (completes image with an overlap with G5-102)
M5-039, complete capture LOV-137H
M5-040, complete capture LOV-135M,136H
M5-041, complete capture LOV-134M, 135H
M5-042, not needed, overlaps with G5-098
M5-043, not needed, overlaps with G5-044
M5-044, captured earlier in 2013, Copernicus megaimage
M5-045, captured earlier in 2013, Copernicus megaimage
M5-046, captured earlier in 2013, Copernicus megaimage
M5-047, captured earlier in 2013, Copernicus megaimage
M5-048, captured earlier in 2013, Copernicus megaimage
M5-049, captured earlier in 2013, Copernicus megaimage
M5-050, complete capture LOV-162H (overlaps with G5-086)
M5-051, partial capture LOV-160M (completes image with an overlap with G5-087)
M5-052, partial capture LOV-160H (completes image with an overlap of two G5 tapes G5-088,089)
M5-053, not needed, overlaps with G5-077
M5-054, not needed, overlaps with G5-078
M5-055, partial capture LOV-185M (completes image with an overlaps of G5-079)
M5-056, complete capture LOV-196M, 197H
M5-057, complete capture LOV-195M, 196H
As those who read this page often can see, my surmise was right about being able to skip many Madrid tapes. Many of the tapes that I played that are partial captures of one medium image only required the capture of a few frame lets as many times those were missed on the other ground station captures.
All of the tapes above for Madrid were from the priority readout, that is when the film is moving from the lower numbered to the higher numbered images as further images were being taken. Today with the tapes we will start reversing this to the final readout where the image numbers will decline. This means that there are about 100 tapes for the final readout, meaning that there will be a lot of overlaps not only with Woomera and Goldstone, but from previous Madrid tapes as well. Knowing the mentality of contractors this was by design only because they figured that they had so much money and time left on the contract and that this would be a good way to maximize the acquisition of funds from the government. I would bet quite a lot that this is why LOV has 150% of the tapes of the previous missions as it is easy to see that there is a lot of redundant data here. Not to complain from a historical context, but interesting to note nonetheless.
Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project (LOIRP) Status 8 November 2013
Dennis Ray Wingo Status, end of day November 8, 2013
Had a lot of visitors today so got tapes done but will get the report done on Monday. We finished M5-057 at the end of the day so we are almost 40% of the way through LOV tapes!
On Monday we will be fished with the priority readouts and will be doing the final readout for Madrid tapes. Austin finished the handy dandy reference book for what frame lets we have left to go. They don’t have the Madrid captures in there though so we will get that done on Monday. We also have ordered another 16 Terabytes of hard drive in order to upgrade our RAID array that was out of space.
LOTS of frame lets, 25,000 just for Woomera and Goldstone for LOV.
Have a nice weekend!
Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project (LOIRP) Status 7 November 2013
Status, end of day, November 7, 2013.
Dennis WIngo: Well, made it through M5-40 today. That puts us at over 25% of the way through the Madrid captures. Tomorrow we have six tapes that were captured several months ago so if everything goes well we will hit 1/3rd of the way through in one week. Details of the images captured tomorrow.
The machine is running very well. The head that we have on now is the one that the general brought to Nancy in 1991 before he headed off to the gulf war. It was the last good head and was the one that we used to get the machine working. It has been refurbished a couple of times and after a hiccup last week, when we got it back it was in near perfect condition, that is for a 45 year old head…
Status late morning November 7.
Six tapes in a row with an overlap with other tapes. Already in the 30’s today….
Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project (LOIRP) Status 6 November 2013
Status, early afternoon November 6th.
Dennis Wingo: Things are going well today, capturing some tapes, up to M5-017 now. Will do a full update at the end of the day…..
In listening to the audio track the Madrid guys are admitting that they had problems with the FR-900 that caused the blank tapes from the day before…
oops.
Status end of day November 6, 2013.
Things are moving well with the Madrid tapes. We have finished M5-022 so we are about 15% through the Madrid tapes in three days. That’s the good news. The bad news is that M2-M5 and M8 had no data on them. There was a problem with the FR-900 machine that was not detected by the ground station operator. This is probably not that bad as these images were captured at the end of the Madrid tape run. We will know when we get through the tapes if we lost any images.
Tapes through today.
M5-001, no image data, a test tape.
M5-002, no signal
M5-003, no signal
M5-004, no signal
M5-005, no signal
M5-006, LOV-018M, 8 framelets, completes image
M5-007, not needed, overlaps with G5-010
M5-008, no signal
M5-009, partial capture LOV-027M, 028H
M5-010, complete capture LOV-026M, 027H, partial capture 025M
M5-010 is a special capture, duplicate of the Earth Image from a Goldstone tape.
M5-011, partial capture LOV-029M, complete capture 030H
M5-012, partial capture LOV-028M, 029H
M5-013, partial capture LOV-029H, complete capture 027M, 028H
M5-014, not needed, overlap with G5-015,016
M5-015, partial capture LOV-044H
M5-016, partial capture LOV-044H, 043H, complete capture 042M
M5-017, partial capture LOV-046M, 047H
M5-018, partial capture LOV-047H (completes image)
M5-019, complete capture LOV-045M, partial capture 046H
M5-020, not needed Overlap with G5-023
M5-021, partial capture LOV-044H (completes image with overlap of W5-028)
M5-022, partial capture LOV-042M, 043H
Lots of short captures but some long ones too. Making pretty good progress and hope to keep it up the rest of this week. I would like to have Lunar Orbiter V done by Thanksgiving but I am moving that week! Yikes!
Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project (LOIRP) Status 5 November 2013
Status, afternoon November 5, 2013.
Dennis Wingo: Started capturing tapes today! M5-006 just needed about 8 frame lets captured which are in the can now. This is going to be interesting because I speculate that this will be the norm with Madrid tapes, not the exception.
End of the day today, November 5, 2013.
Got through M5-010 today. Only captured two fairly long captures and one of them is a duplicate of LOV-027 to see if the Madrid capture of the Earth looks better than the Goldstone capture.
Just kinda getting started today and we had another tape with no signal on it. Bizarre….
Details tomorrow.
Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project (LOIRP) Status 4 November 2013
Status, end of day November 4, 2013
Dennis Wingo: Well we ran four tapes today, with not one frame let captured. It looks like M2-M5 have no signal on them. There are test signals from the calibration at the start of the tape and there is a control track signal and audio, but no video signal at all…..
Finally found a signal when we got to tape M6.
Will start capturing image data from that tape in the morning. We don’t know if it is an error when they originally recorded the tape or not but it does point in that direction…….
Don’t know what images we lost yet but will figure it out in the morning….
Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project (LOIRP) Status 1 November 2013
Status Friday Afternoon November 1, 2013.
Dennis Wingo: Well it looks like the repaired head shipped today. Will have it Monday morning. Hopefully it works this time and we can start running tape!
Also, we have a treat coming soon….
Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP) Documents Available Online
Via Planetary Exploration Newsletter: As part of its work on a NASA-funded Apollo Lunar Surface Experiments Package (ALSEP) data recovery project, the Lunar and Planetary Institute has scanned a collection of ALSEP-related documents. This archive focuses on the development, deployment, and operation of the ALSEP experiments and currently includes 210 documents with more than 17,700 pages of material.
These documents include ALSEP Systems Handbooks for several of the ALSEP arrays, ALSEP Data Processing Procedures, the ALSEP Archive Tape Description Document, and daily status reports for the ALSEP network from initial deployment in 1969 to termination in 1977. The documents can be searched based on key words selected by the user. This material is available as part of our Lunar Science and Exploration Portal at: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/ALSEP
Material on this website provides important background information about the ALSEP experiments that may be useful to individuals who are re-analyzing data obtained from the experiments. However, the archive does not include science results from these experiments. LPI intends to continue adding other ALSEP-related material to the website on an on-going basis.
LADEE Now Speaks With A Familiar Voice
Keith’s note: This audio clip of the late Mike Wargo has been uploaded to LADEE. It was sent back to Earth from the Moon yesterday. Now, if anyone happens to visit the Moon and asks LADEE what it is doing there, Mike will let them know – from lunar orbit.
A Memorial Tribute for Mike Wargo will be held on October 17, 2013 from 11:00-noon with an informal reception to follow. The tribute will be held at the Cosmos Club, 2121 Massachusetts Avenue, Washington DC. Please note that the Cosmos Club requests that gentlemen wear a jacket and tie. Those who wish to give a gift in Mike’s memory are encouraged to make a donation to MIT Michael J. Wargo for the Department of Materials Science Endowed Fellowship Fund. Contact Bonny Kellerman, bonnyk -at- mit.edu or at 617-253-9722
– Crater Wargo, earlier post
– NASA Lunar Exploration Analysis Group Statement on the Passing of Dr. Michael Wargo, earlier post
– Mike Wargo, earlier post
Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project Status Report 9 Oct 2013
Dennis Wingo: We have had some great visitors over the last couple of days. One group is Dave Martinez and Ana Huante from Dave Martinez Technologies. Great group of folks who are key evangelists and designers of the Google Glasses. Here is a picture of them visiting us yesterday! Click on image to enlarge.
Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project Status Report 8 Oct 2013
Dennis Wingo: Back at doing some clean up tape capture today. We had a tape that would not run before due to control track problems that ran fine today (G5-067). I am going to rerun G5-004 to see if the loss of signal about ten minutes into the tape is permanent. If it is, more than likely there is overlap with a Madrid tape on this one. I still need to give the images numbers on tapes 137-158 and will do that in a bit. Here is what came off of G5-067
G5-067, partial capture LOV-213M, complete capture 214H
G5-136, partial capture LOV-050M, complete capture 051H
G5-137, complete capture LOV-049M, 050H
G5-138, partial capture LOV-045M, complete capture 046H
G5-139, partial capture LOV-046M, complete capture 047H
G5-140, partial capture LOV-048M, complete capture 049H
G5-141, partial capture LOV-047M, complete capture 048H
G5-142, partial capture LOV-044M, 045H
G5-143, not captured, overlap with W5-151
G5-144, partial capture LOV-041M
G5-145, partial capture LOV-045H
G5-146, partial capture LOV-044M, 045H (duplicate with G5-142)
G5-147, partial capture LOV-045H
Break in the record for a second.
I just figured out what happened that had been confusing me before. It seems that the Lunar Orbiter flight team had backed up the film and rerecorded some images between G5-142 and G5-147! The numbers don’t make any sense otherwise!
G5-147′, partial capture LOV-028H (duplicate tape number but different image!!)
G5-148, partial capture LOV-026M, 025M, complete capture 027H
G5-149, partial capture LOV-025M (completes image), complete capture 026H
G5-150, not captured, overlap with W5-11
G5-151, partial capture LOV-024H (overlap with W5-008,W5-011)
G5-152, not captured, overlap with W5-009
G5-153, partial capture LOV-022H
G5-154, partial capture LOV-020, complete capture 021H (overlap with W5-006-007)
G5-155, partial captur eLOV-019M (overlap with G5-010-011)
G5-156, not captured, overlap with W5-162, G5-011)
G5-157, partial capture LOV-017M (overlap with W5-162, 163)
G5-158, complete capture LOV-017H, partial capture 015M
This completes the Lunar Orbiter V Goldstone captures.
I went back to re-record G5-004 and it has no signal after the first 41 frame lets, about 40 minutes of signal lost. Probably get the framelets on a Madrid tape.