McMoon: How the Earliest Images of the Moon Were so Much Better than we Realised

An Earthrise over the moon’s horizon, taken by Lunar Orbiter 1 on August 24th 1966. Credit NASA/LOIRP.

Fifty years ago, 5 unmanned lunar orbiters circled the moon, taking extremely high resolution photos of the surface. They were trying to find the perfect landing site for the Apollo missions. They would be good enough to blow up to 40 x 54ft images that the astronauts would walk across looking for the great spot. After their use, the images were locked away from the public until after the bulk of the moon landings, as at the time they would have revealed the superior technology of the USA’s spy satellite cameras, which the orbiters cameras were designed from. The main worry was the USSR gaining valuable information about landing sites that the US wanted to use. In 1971 many of the images were released, but nowhere near to their potential quality, and mainly to an academic audience as public interest in the moon had waned. Up until 2008 most of the reported images from the project were the 1966 versions that were grainy and lower quality.

Earthrise difference
Comparison of the Earthrise image shown to the public in 1966 on top, and the restored image directly from the tape on the bottom. The bottom image was released in 2008, 42 years after it was taken. Credit: NASA/LOIRP.

These spacecraft were Lunar Orbiter I to V, and they were sent by NASA during 1966 and 67. In the late 1960’s, after the Apollo era, the data that came back on analog tapes was placed in storage in Maryland. In the mid 1980’s they were transferred to JPL, under the care of Nancy Evans, co-founder of the NASA Planetary Data System (PDS). The tapes were moved around for many years, until Nancy found Dennis Wingo and Keith Cowing. They decided they needed to be digitised for future generations, and brought them to NASA Ames Research Centre. They set up shop in an abandoned McDonalds, offered to them as free space. They christened the place McMoon. The aim was to digitise these tapes before the technology used to read them disappeared, or the tapes destroyed.

The Mcdonalds
The McDonalds nicknamed McMoon, with the trademark skull and crossbones flag denoting the “hacker” methodology. Credit: MIT Technology Review.

The Lunar Orbiters never returned to Earth with the imagery. Instead, the Orbiter developed the 70mm film (yes film) and then raster scanned the negatives with a 5 micron spot (200 lines/mm resolution) and beamed the data back to Earth using lossless analog compression, which was yet to actually be patented by anyone. Three ground stations on earth, one of which was in Madrid, another in Australia and the other in California recieved the signals and recorded them. The transmissions were recorded on to magnetic tape. The tapes needed Ampex FR-900 drives to read them, a refrigerator sized device that cost $300,000 to buy new in the 1960’s.

The FR-900 that was used to restore the old images. A mix of old and new equipment to get the images to modern PC’s. Credit: MIT Technology Review.
FR-900 signed
The back of the first FR-900 has been signed by the people who brought the project to life, including Nancy Evans. Credit: MIT Technology Review.

The tape drive that they found first had to be restored, beginning with a wash in the former restaurants sink. The machine needed a custom built demodulator to extract the image, an analog to digital converter, and a monitor connection to view what was happening. As the labelling system of the tapes had been forgotten, and documentation was not readily available, they had to hand decode the coordinates on the tapes. They also had a big collection from parts of other FR-900’s and similar designs. The spare parts were constantly needed to keep the recorder going, there was good reason that the format didn’t continue for long.

moon image reels
These are just some of the reels of moon images. They use this machine to hand inspect the reels, mainly to figure out the coordinate labelling system. Credit: MIT Technology Review.

In order to read the tapes, the heads of the FR-900 apply a magnetic field to the tape inducing a current through it. The current can be measured and run through the demodulator. This pulls out the image signal, that is then run through an analog to digital converter. The data is then processed on a computer using the custom system they set up. They made custom software that interfaced with Photoshop to link the relevant parts of the image together. The orbiters sent out each image in multiple transmissions, with each strip (one tin) making up part of the image. the software manages to link up the images nearly seamlessly at the full potential resolution. The best of the images can show the lunar surface at a resolution less than 1m, much better than any other orbiter that has been there.

tapes tapes tapes
The image shows the sheer amount of tapes that the few images are stored on. Inside McMoon you can also see a sleeping bag some poor guy had to stay in. Credit:

They were huge files, even by today’s standards. One of the later images can be as big as 2GB on a modern PC, with photos on top resolution DSLRs only being in the region of 60MB you can see how big these images are. One engineer said you could blow the images up to the size of a billboard without losing any quality. When the initial NASA engineers printed off these images, they had to hang them in a church because they were so big. The below images show some idea of the scale of these images. Each individual image when printed out was 1.58m by 0.4m.

NASA printing
This image shows the large thin strip images being laid out on the floor of a large room so the engineers could look for good landing spots. Credit: NASA.
NASA Engineer
The image shows a NASA technician with a ream of photograph printouts used to assemble the overall image. Credit: NASA.

Orbiter IV was there to produce a single big image of the front side of the moon. In pictures taken between May 11-25, 1967 the Orbiter took a number of images that span the area from the north pole to the south pole and from the eastern limb to the western limb. The complete mosaic of an image stretched 40 by 45 ft. The engineers laid it out on the floor and all the observers including the astronauts had to crawl over it and take off their shoes. The images were so good, even at this size that some astronomers used magnifying glasses. This giant image was the primary source to select the sites for Orbiter V  to photograph in a higher resolution. The images taken by Orbiter V decided the exact locations for Apollo 11 to land.

Tsiolkovskiy Crater
The very prominent feature in this image is the Tsiolkovskiy Crater on the far side of the moon. Taken by Orbiter 3 on 19 February 1967. Credit: NASA/LOIRP.

Since 2007 the Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project has brought back 2000 images from 1500 analog tapes. The first ever picture of an earthrise. As Keith Cowing said “an image taken a quarter of a fucking million miles away in 1966. The Beatles were warming up to play Shea Stadium at the moment it was being taken.” To find more of those images go to their website, but I warn you those images are huge.

Thank You for reading, take a look at my other posts if you are interested in space or electronics, or follow me on Twitter to get updates on projects I am currently working on.

The First Block 5 Launches Bangladesh’s First Satellite

F9-55 launches
An awesome image of the first Block 5 Falcon 9 taking off from LC 39A at KSC. Credit: SpaceX Flickr.

On the 11th of May 2018, at 20:14 UTC the first ever block 5 Falcon 9 rocket launched Bangabandhu 1 into geosynchronous transfer orbit. Launched from Launch Complex 39A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Base, the F9-55 (launch designation) was delayed after an automatic abort on May 10th, 1 minute before liftoff. Bangabandhu 1, a Thales Alenia Space Spacebus 4000B2 series satellite is Bangladesh’s first geostationary communications satellite.

The block 5 has been long awaited by SpaceX fans, with many images in the news, and plenty of hints on Twitter. SpaceX has been incrementally improving and upgrading the Falcon 9 v1.2 booster design since it’s first launch in December 2015. Designed to be much easier to refurbish, with potentially 10 reuses in each booster. Previous block designs have only been able to be reused once before being decommissioned.

F9-55 on the pad
The F9-55 on the launchpad ready to fire a satellite into GTO more efficiently that previous versions. Credit: @marcuscotephoto on twitter.

The Block 5 incorporates higher thrust Merlin 1D engines that have turboprop modifications that were requested by NASA. These modifications are to accommodate future potential crew launches. Another big change was mentioned in the livestream, where the pressurisation method in the second stage has been improved. After the AMOS 6 Falcon 9 explosion, the new version allows for faster, later and denser, chilled kerosene fuel loading. It also has new landing legs that can be retracted without being removed like previous Falcon 9’s. There are other changes, but they have been featured in previous designs.

F9-55 launch
The Falcon 9 takes off with Bangladesh’s first geostationary communications satellite on board. Credit: @marcuscotephoto on Twitter

The first stage had designation B1046. It burned for 2 minutes and 31 seconds, before separating ro perform reentry burns. It opened its new landing legs and landed on the autonomous drone ship Of Course I Still Love You, 630km downrange in the ocean. The second stage burned for 5 minutes and 43 seconds to reach parking orbit at T+8 minutes and 19 seconds. It then restarted ar T+27 minutes and 38 seconds for a 59 second long second burn that accelerated the craft to GTO.

F9-55 awesome shot
The Falcon 9 after an aborted launch the day before, with a new paint scheme to denote the block 5. Credit: SpaceX Flickr.

In the 31 attempts, 25 Falcon 9/Falcon Heavy booster have been successfully recovered. Four of the landings have been on “Just Read The Instructions” off the coast of California. 10 on land at Cape Canaveral from LZ1 with another one on  LZ2. 10 have landed on the autonomous drone ship, Of Course I Still Love You off the Florida coast. Nineteen individual first stages have been recovered, eleven have flown twice, with five of those ether expended or lost during their second flights. All the recovered stages have been v1.2 Falcon 9’s.

F9-55 power
The first look at the extra thrust on the Falcon 9 Merlin 1D engines in the new Block 5. Credit: SpaceX Flickr.

To find similar photos, and to buy reasonably priced prints of some of the above visit

The Manned Orbiting Laboratory

NASA Special Agent Dan Oakland holds up a long-lost spacesuit uncovered at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida. Credit NASA.

In early 2005, two security officers at Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida were doing a check of a facility known as the Launch Complex 5/6 museum. NASA Special Agent Dann E. Oakland and Security Manager Henry Butler, of the company that oversees the museum, Delaware North Parks and Resorts, discovered a locked room. The problem was they had no key, and nobody else did! Luckily, being security officers they found a master key and gained entry. By the looks of things the room hadn’t been accessed in  many years, at least not by people, the rodents had made themselves at home. With no power the officers explored with torches and found some interesting stuff.

This is Launch Complex 5/6 blockhouse, now a museum at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida, where long-lost space suits were found. Credit: NASA.

They found retired spacesuits designed for Americans in the 1960’s that were training to be space spies. Initially they assumed the spacesuits were training suits from the end of Gemini or the beginning of Apollo space programs. When inspected by their manufacturer, the Hamilton Standard Corporation, they determined they were actually MH-7 training suits. Kept in surprisingly good condition, the suits were made for a short lived cold war-era military program to put a manned space station in orbit.

This locker reveals a long-lost spacesuit uncovered at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida. Credit: NASA

In 1964 the Manned Orbiting Laboratory program was an Air Force initiative to send a Air Force astronauts to a space station in a Gemini capsule, as they had plenty of experience with it. While up there they would take part in surveillance and reconnaissance efforts. After spending a few weeks in orbit, the crew would simply un dock and return to Earth. A test launch from Complex 40 on Nov. 30, 1966, of a MOL was conducted with an unmanned Gemini capsule. The MOL was constructed from tankage of a Titan II rocket. The program was abandoned by the Air Force in 1969 but not before they made a great deal of technological developments. when the USAF abandoned the MOL program, they transferred all equipment and their astronaut corps to NASA.

A 1960 conceptual drawing of the Manned Orbiting Laboratory. Credit: NASA

There were two spacesuits found, one identified as 007 and another 008. The spacesuit with identifying number 008 had the name “LAWYER” on the left sleeve. The suit was traced to Lt. Col. Richard E. Lawyer, a member of the first group recruited to be MOL astronauts in 1965. Three groups of military officers trained to be MOL astronauts, when the program was cancelled seven of the younger ones were transferred to NASA’s human space flight program, and went on to have standout careers. Notable mentions are Robert Crippen, pilot of the first Space Shuttle mission, and Richard H. “Dick” Truly, who later became a NASA Administrator. All MOL astronauts who were under age 35 and survived eventually flew in NASA programs, either on board Skylab or the space shuttle.

Atlas V Launches InSight

Atlas V on the pad
The Atlas V on the launch pad at vandenberg AFB in California, Credit: ULA flickr.

At 11:05 UTC on May 5th 2018 the forth Atlas launch of the year launched the long awaited InSight mission on a course for mars. Launching from Vandenberg Air Force Base the AV-078 (the launch designation) was an Atlas V in 401 configuration. It was the first interplanetary launch from the west coast of the United States. Liftoff of the Atlas V with a 4m payload fairing was from Space Launch Complex 3 East.

Sam Suns first tweet
An awesome photo of the launch that blew up on twitter, taken from the sky. Credit @BirdsNSpace on Twitter.

The rocket had one main payload, the InSight Mission and two CubeSats. InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) is a robotic lander designed to study the interior of the planet Mars.  I weighed 694 kg at launch, including a 425 kg fueled lander. The lander carries a probe that will be hammered 15m into the Mars surface, a seismometer, a magnetometer (first expected to land on the surface of Mars), a laser reflector, along with other instruments. The lander also has a robotic arm to move payloads around, but there will be another post in the future discussing the instruments in more detail. The two CubeSats on board are known as MarCO-A and MarCO-B, each weighing about 13.5 kg. They will fly by Mars while conducting a data relay experiment with InSight.

Insight Fairing
The 4m payload fairing on top of the Atlas V containing the InSight payload. Credit: ULA Flickr.

The design of InSight was developed from the 2008 Phoenix Mars Lander. The previous lander was launched on Delta 2 rockets compared to the Atlas V, both built and launched by the United Launch Alliance. The Atlas V does have excess capability for the mission (slightly overkill) but this allowed it to be launched from Vandenberg AFB. Previous solar orbit missions (like this one) were launched from the Cape to gain the site’s eastward earth rotational velocity. Vandenberg launches have to fly south or westerly direction across the Pacific Ocean. InSight was originally planned to launch in 2016 but was delayed to 2018 due to the main instrument failing.

Liftoff od Insight
The Atlas V lifts off, unfortunately the fog rolled in so very few great shots were taken by the remote cameras. Credit: ULA Flickr.

AV-078 started on a 158 degree azimuth, aiming towards a 63.4 degree Low Earth Parking Orbit. The LOX/RP-1 fueled RD-180 powered first stage fired for 4 minutes and 4 seconds. The Centaur’s RL10C-1 LOX/LH2 engine then fired for 8 minutes and 48 seconds to reach the parking orbit. It then coasted for 65 minutes and 40 seconds then performing a second, 5 minute and 23 second burn to accelerate into a trans-Mars solar orbit. Insight separated 9 minutes after at about T+1 hour, 33 minutes and 19 seconds. The CubeSats separated shortly after.

Aaron Colier Atlas V launch
An awesome long exposure shot of the launch taken by Aaron Collier. From roughly 85 miles away. Credit @aaroncollier96 on Twitter.

Final Rokot Launches Sentinel 3B

What Sentinel 3B looks like
Artist’s view of what Sentinel 3B looks like when up in space, sadly there are not many images of it for real! Credit: ESA/ATG Medialab

On April 25th, 2018, at 17:57 UTC a Russian Rokot/Briz KM rocket launched from Site 133, pad 3 from Plesetsk Cosmodrome. Aboard was Sentinel 3B, an Earth observing satellite, part of Europe’s Copernicus environmental monitoring network. This marks the final commercial Rokot Launch, and the final Eurokot mission. There are some more Rockot launches planned for the Russian government though, after which it is reportedly that the repurposed missile launch system will be retired.

Sentinel-3B UC exit from MIK go to Launch pad
The Sentinel 3B being transported to the launchpad by the russian train system.

Sentinel 3B is a Thales Alenia Space Prima Bus satellite, designed to measure ocean temperatures, colour, surface height and the thickness of sea ice. While it is over land it can measure the height of rivers and lakes, monitor wildfires, provide maps of land use and monitor vegetation. The satellite has been designed for many uses. Created for the European Space Agency, the satellite will join Sentinel 3A in orbit to symmetrically monitor the Earth. The data will be primarily fed into the Copernicus Environmental Monitoring Service, where the applications can be developed from to use the data.

Sentinel 3B in integration
An image of the Sentinel 3B satellite just before it was sent off to Russia to be put on the Rokot. Credit ESA

The satellite carries many payloads to track the huge amount of data it is recording, these include:

  • OLCI (Ocean and Land Colour Instrument)
  • SLSTR (Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer)
  • SRAL (Synthetic Aperture Radar Altimeter)
  • MWR (Microwave Radiometer)
  • LRR (Laser Retroreflector)
  • GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System)

Thales Alenia Space was the prime contractor, responsible for constructing the spacecraft and the SRAL instrument, as well as contributing to the supply of the SLSTR instrument. Many European companies were involved in supplying the SLSTR instrument, including SELEX Galileo, RAL (Rutherford Appleton Laboratory), Jena-Optronik, Thales Alenia Space, ABSL and ESA-ESTEC. EADS CASA Espacio was contracted to provide the MWR instrument. CNES was contracted to provide the DORIS instrument.

Mediterranean Sea
An image of the Mediterranean Sea taken by Sentinel 3A, the partner of Sentinel 3B, they will don the same job on opposite sides of the Earth. Credit: ESA