Surveyor's Luck

The sun rose higher in the lunar sky and temperatures climbed toward 270DEG F. Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientists prepared to shut down their successful Surveyor spacecraft for a two-day siesta. Then they suddenly discovered that the protective shadows of Surveyor's solar panel and rectangular high-gain antenna had fallen over the television camera, keeping it cool enough to shoot pictures for an extra day. Before the camera was again directly exposed to the sun's rays and had to be turned off, Surveyor raised its picture total to an incredible 4,002. After the siesta, it was turned on again and shot a record 1,758 more pictures in 9 1/2 hours.

"Oh, gosh, we're just snowed," exulted J.P.L. Project Scientist Leonard Jaffe. "We would have been happy if we had gotten just one picture." In one batch of shots, scientists found some that further emphasized Surveyor's charmed life. About 300 yds. from the craft, the camera picked out a field of boulders up to six feet in diameter. Had the spacecraft landed there, striking any stone at a bad angle, it might have toppled over. Said U.S. Geological Survey's Astrogeologist Eugene Shoemaker: "I think we were damn lucky."

Scientists were also astounded at the efficiency of Surveyor's solar panels, which seemed to be having no trouble keeping its batteries fully charged. "We never dreamed in our fondest dreams that we would have so much power," admitted Aerospace Engineer Leo Stoolman, a technical director at Hughes Aircraft, which built Surveyor. As a result, scientists who had at first speculated that Surveyor might operate for only 30 hours into the long lunar night began talking confidently about at least three times that much nighttime telemetry before batteries run down.

Though Surveyor was not designed to last through the -250DEG F. temperatures of the two-week lunar night, its flawless performance has given new hope to Hughes Aircraft scientists, who earlier predicted that its battery would freeze and rupture in the cold, spilling electrolyte over other delicate parts and effectively disabling the craft. Actually, they now point out, similar test batteries have survived temperatures of -270DEG F., and have later been thawed out and recharged. When the sun again rises on the Sea of Storms late in June, they now suggest, it may find Surveyor ready to charge up and come back to life.

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