12
1 Introduction
Brief information of the Surveyor landers is listed in Table 1.2.
2. Brief Introduction of the Lander Technology of Surveyor Landers
The configuration of Surveyor landers is show in Fig. 1.5. The payloads of each
probe were different because of different goals of each mission.
1) Specification of the lander
The launch mass of Surveyor lander was about 1000 kg, while the dry mass was
about 320 kg with 40 kg payload. There was no rover onboard the lander. It was a
small class lander.
Table 1.2 Brief information of the Surveyor landers
Name
Launch time Landing Time Brief information of the probes
Surveyor 1 1966-05-30 1966-06-02
The first successful soft-landing on the Moon by the
United States, over 11,000 images of lunar surface
were sent back
Proved that strength of lunar surface could support
the lander
Demonstrated the capability of soft-landing and
telecommunication and acquired engineering data of
the lander and data of Moon surface environment
Surveyor 2 1966-09-20 –
One thruster failed during midcourse trajectory
correction to make the lander rotate, failed
Surveyor 3 1967-04-17 1967-04-20
Successfully landed on predefined Apollo landing
site to the east of Surveyor 1 landing site and took
images
Acquired parameters of bearing capacity, radio
reflection and thermal properties of lunar surface
Dug the surface by sampler to observe influence of
the lunar regolith properties to digging
Surveyor 4 1967-07-14 –
Lost contact during powered descent and landing,
failed
Surveyor 5 1967-09-08 1967-09-11
Landed on Mare Tranquillitatis. Took images and
conducted first chemical analysis of lunar regolith
composition
Surveyor 6 1967-11-07 1967-11-10
Successfully landed and took images. Acquired
parameters of dynamics, thermal and radio reflection
properties of lunar surface
Jumped once after landing to detect the mechanics
properties of the lunar regolith
Surveyor 7 1968-01-07 1968-01-10
Successfully landed. Conducted detection of lunar
regolith composition with alpha scattering device.
Measured distance between the Earth and the Moon
by laser ranging technology
1 Introduction
Brief information of the Surveyor landers is listed in Table 1.2.
2. Brief Introduction of the Lander Technology of Surveyor Landers
The configuration of Surveyor landers is show in Fig. 1.5. The payloads of each
probe were different because of different goals of each mission.
1) Specification of the lander
The launch mass of Surveyor lander was about 1000 kg, while the dry mass was
about 320 kg with 40 kg payload. There was no rover onboard the lander. It was a
small class lander.
Table 1.2 Brief information of the Surveyor landers
Name
Launch time Landing Time Brief information of the probes
Surveyor 1 1966-05-30 1966-06-02
The first successful soft-landing on the Moon by the
United States, over 11,000 images of lunar surface
were sent back
Proved that strength of lunar surface could support
the lander
Demonstrated the capability of soft-landing and
telecommunication and acquired engineering data of
the lander and data of Moon surface environment
Surveyor 2 1966-09-20 –
One thruster failed during midcourse trajectory
correction to make the lander rotate, failed
Surveyor 3 1967-04-17 1967-04-20
Successfully landed on predefined Apollo landing
site to the east of Surveyor 1 landing site and took
images
Acquired parameters of bearing capacity, radio
reflection and thermal properties of lunar surface
Dug the surface by sampler to observe influence of
the lunar regolith properties to digging
Surveyor 4 1967-07-14 –
Lost contact during powered descent and landing,
failed
Surveyor 5 1967-09-08 1967-09-11
Landed on Mare Tranquillitatis. Took images and
conducted first chemical analysis of lunar regolith
composition
Surveyor 6 1967-11-07 1967-11-10
Successfully landed and took images. Acquired
parameters of dynamics, thermal and radio reflection
properties of lunar surface
Jumped once after landing to detect the mechanics
properties of the lunar regolith
Surveyor 7 1968-01-07 1968-01-10
Successfully landed. Conducted detection of lunar
regolith composition with alpha scattering device.
Measured distance between the Earth and the Moon
by laser ranging technology