Prime data from chemical analysis experiments, of Surveyor 5, 6, and 7 are critically examined and analyzed. This and associated laboratory work has given final chemical composition results for the lunar regolith at three locations. The conclusions made on the basis of the preliminary examinations of the data are confirmed and extended

Turkevich, A.

English

NASA Technical Reports Server

FINAL TECHNICAL REPORT ON GRANT
NASA NGR 14-001-128
Post-Mission Data Analysis
of
Surveyor Mission Chemical Data
Anthony Turkevich
Principal Investigator
August, 1973
(N ASA-CR-
ANALYSIS OF SURVEYOR MISSION CHEMICAL
DATA Final Technical Report (Chicago
Univ.) 13 P HC $3.00 CSCL 03B Unclas
G3/30 15715
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19730025069 2020-03-23T00:54:20+00:00Z
Abstract
The prime, data from the chemical analysis experiments
on Surveyor 5* 6, and 7 have been critically examined and .
analyzed.. Together with associated, laboratory work, these
have led to final chemical composition results for the lunar
regolith at three locations on the moon. The conclusions made
on the basis of the preliminary examination of the data have
been confirmed and extended.
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I.. Introduction
The unmanned United States spacecraft. Surveyors 5, 6,
and 7, landed on the moon in September, 1967, November, 1967,
and January, 1968, respectively. Among the scientific equipment
carried by these spacecraft were alpha particle experiments which
provided the first chemical analyses of the lunar surface. Two
of the landing sites of the Surveyors were in mare areas of the
moon; the last was in a terra location outside the crater Tycho.
On these missions data were obtained on six lunar samples. The
preliminary chemical analysis results that were reported (refs.
^-} 2, 3) were based on semi-real time data, limited in quantity
and quality and processed by very^ approximate techniques. The
availability of this data had been made possible only by the
mission requirements to monitor the behavior of the equipment
during the actual mission.
The prime data from these experiments were recorded at
Goldstone, California, Robledo, Spain; and Canberra, Australia,
in a format designed primarily for the engineering requirements
"of the Surveyor missions. The proposal being reported upon here
covered the task of .obtaining this prime data, processing it
to put it into scientifically usable form, removal of redundancies,
examination for either instrument misbehavior or transmission
problems, and processing to obtain the best possible chemical
analytical results. In addition, laboratory studies, using a.
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spare flight instrument, were performed to obtain data needed
for the most precise analysis of the lunar results.
This report will summarize the accomplishments of the
program under this grant.. The summary will lean heavily on
the numerous publications and reports which cover in quite a
bit of detail the results of the program. . •
II. Summary of Accomplishments .
A. Operational
1. Treatment of prime data -
. The prime data from the Surveyor chemical analyses
experiments were recorded, at Goldstone, .California, Robledo,
Spain, and Canberra, Australia. The data used for. the pre-
liminary results were those sent by teletype in semi-real time
during the missions from the three receiving stations to the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Although these preliminary chemical
analyses have turned out to be more precise than expected, the
errors assigned to them had. to take into, account the fact that
the data on which they were based could not be examined in
detail for possible small instrument malfunctions, errors intro-
duced during transmission or inadequate application of instrument
temperature calibration effects. ' .
/
The prime data were not easily accessible. They were
in a format designed primarily for the engineering objectives of
the Surveyor missions and intertwined with much engineering
information of little interest once the missions*had proven
successful. Obtaining this data from the master recording tapes,
putting it into a form suitable for scientific treatment,
examining it for validity, removing redundant data (for example
sometimes two different stations would receive and record the
same data from the moon), and correcting the data for the effects
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of temperature (the instruments on the moon operated over
about 100° C temperature range) was a major undertaking. A
.report on this aspect of the work is appended as: "Alpha
Scattering Experiment Post-Mission Data Processing" by Kenneth
Sowinski, May, 1970. (Report; # 1) .
2. Laboratory studies with spare instrument
After the missions were completed and the preliminary
analyses indicated that the quality of the data was probably
very high and worthy of being worked up to the fullest extent,
a spare flight instrument was used in the laboratory for a whole
series of studies which made possible final chemical analysis
reports on the Surveyor missions.. These studies included:
a. Knowing the conditions under which the
instrument had actually operated on the moon during the missions,
it was possible to make measurements in the laboratory that would
be most appropriate to the analysis of the lunar data. For
example, a new, complete, library of the responses of the instru-
ment to different chemical elements and oxides was obtained with
the spare instrument with alpha radioactive sources which were
of the same quality as used during the missions, with emphasis
on those chemical elements which the preliminary analysis had
shown to be most important and interesting.
b. A set of analyses of rocks of known chemical
composition was performed again under conditions approximating
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those of the lunar missions in order to evaluate more precisely
the errors of the technique. In doing these chemical analyses
some improvements in the general method of treating data from
the alpha scattering.technique.were made (see Report # 8). These
studies made possible the more quantitative evaluation of the
errors of the lunar analyses than had been possible heretofore.
c. Several samples examined on the lunar missions
(for example, the rock studied on Surveyor 7 missions) involved
geometrical relationships of sample to instrument so different
from nominal as to require simulation in the laboratory to make
sure that these special geometries were not affecting the
results. These simulation studies made it possible to make the
»
small corrections needed for these samples.
3- Application to lunar data
The result of the extensive work summarized above made
possible publication of the final chemical analysis results from
the Surveyor missions (Publications # 3,4, and 6). These final
results were thus based on more data and on data that had been
much more carefully evaluated than in the preliminary results.
In addition, it was possible to give.the chemical composition
in terms of more chemical elements, and the errors assigned to
each of the results were smaller and more quantitatively defined
than in the earlier reports.
- 7 -
- ... • B. Scientific Accomplishments
1. The first result of this more complete treatment
of the Surveyor chemical analysis data was the confirmation of
all of the important conclusions made on the basis of the pre-
liminary data: the lunar surface at all three sites is generally
basaltic in chemical composition; the most common meteorites
and tektites do not come from the surface on the moon; the
basaltic composition implies strongly.the occurrence of large
scale chemical differentiation of the lunar surface; the terra
chemical analysis is significantly different from that of the
two mare analyses in having appreciably less of elements heavier
than calcium; this chemical difference, if generally applicable,
could explain the difference in albedo of the two areas of the
moon and. the difference in elevation.
2. The more precise analyses indicated a low sodium
content as compared to typical terrestrial basalts at all three
locations examined on the Surveyor missions. In addition, an
abnormally high titanium content of the regolith at Mare Tran-
quillitatis (Surveyor 5) was found. The chemical composition
at Mare Tranquillitatis is unique in that there are essentially
no terrestrial or meteoritic materials that have the same
chemical composition.
3. The more refined analyses made possible the
deduction of the principal minerals present in the mare and
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terra regions, and from this the density of the surface rocks.
This made possible the conclusion that the moon had a crust
that was significantly different both chemically and physically
from the interior.
4. Most of these analytical results of the Surveyor
missions have been adequately confirmed by the results of the
later Apollo and Luna, missions (e.g. Report # 8). They have
established that the Surveyor missions correctly identified
more than 99$ of the atoms of the lunar surface. In particular
they have confirmed the generally.low content of the alkalies,
the high and variable content of. the titanium in lunar mare
material and the principal chemical differences between the
mare and terra compositions.
5- The only significant Surveyor result which has
not as yet been confirmed is the reported presence of 0.3 atom
percent of fluorine in the regolith of the terra outside the
crater Tycho. Chemical analyses of samples brought back by
Luna 20 and Apollo 16 from other terra regions of the moon show
no such large amounts of fluorine. It is speculated that this
apparent discrepancy.may be the one case where the chemical
analysis by alpha particles differs from the bulk analysis
because it reflects the chemical composition of the topmost
surface of the particles. There are some preliminary results
which support the presence of fluorine on the surfaces of lunar
particles. .
- 9 -
6. -As an additional result,.detailed examination.
of the prime Surveyor data made possible the identification
of alpha radioactivity in the lunar surface at Mare Tran-
quillitatis (Report'# 5)- Although not found in studies by
other people, or on the visor of the Surveyor III camera visor
(Report # 9)* "the presence of such radioactivity on the lunar
surface has since been confirmed (ref. 4).
- 10 -
III. References
1. Anthony Turkevich, E. Franzgrote and J. Patterson.
"Chemical Analysis of the Moon at the Surveyor V Landing Site:
Preliminary Results," Science 158, 635 (1967).
2. Anthony Turkevich, J. Patterson, E. Pranzgrote.
"Chemical Analysis of the Moon at the Surveyor- VI Landing Site:
Preliminary Results," Science 160, 1108 (1968).
.3- Anthony Turkevich, E. Franzgrote and J. Patterson.
"Chemical Analysis of the Moon at the Surveyor VII Landing Site:
Preliminary Results," Science 162, 117 (1968).
4. Paul Bjorkholm, Leon Golub, Paul Gorenstein.
"Detection of a Nonuniform Distribution of Polonium-210 on the
Moon with the Apollo 16 Alpha Particle Spectrometer," Science l80,
9 5 7 (1973). . - - , . • '
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IV. Principal Personnel Associated with Program (other than
Principal Investigator).
1. Mr. E.'J. Franzgrote
2. Dr. James H. Patterson
Present address
3. Mr. T. E. Economou
4- Mr. Kenneth Sowinski
5. Mr. Edwin Blume
6. Mr. Wayne Anderson
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Pasadena, California 91103
Chemistry Division
Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne, Illinois 60439
Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory
Los Alamos, New Mexico
Laboratory for Astrophysics and
Space Research
Enrico Fermi Institute
University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois 60637
Enrico Fermi Institute
University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois 60637
Laboratory for Astrophysics and
Space Research
Enrico Fermi Institute
University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois 60637
Laboratory for Astrophysics and
Space Research
Enrico Fermi Institute
University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois 60637
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V. Publications and Reports Arising from this Grant* (copies appended)
1. Kenneth Sowinski. "Alpha Scattering Experiment
Post-Mission Data Processing," May, 1970 (unpublished).
2. James H. Patterson, E. J. Franzgrote, A. L.
Turkevich, W. A. Anderson, T. E. Economou, H. E. Griffin,
S. L. Grotch, and K. P. Sowinski. "The Alpha Scattering
Experiment on the Surveyor 7 Lunar Mission: Comparison with
Surveyors 5 and 6," J. Geo. Res. 74, 6120 (1969).
3. Anthony L. Turkevich, Ernest J. Franzgrote, James
H. Patterson. "Chemical Composition of the Lunar Surface in
Mare Tranquillitatis/1 Science 1^ 5, 277-279(1969).
4. Ernest J. Franzgrote, James H. Patterson, Anthony
L. Turkevich, Thanasis E..Economou, Kenneth P. Sowinski.
"Chemical Composition of the Lunar,Surface in Sinus Medii,"
Science 167, 376-379 (1970).
5. Anthony L. Turkevich, James H. Patterson, Ernest
J. Franzgrote, Kenneth P. Sowinski, Thanasis E. Economou. "Alpha
Radioactivity of the Lunar Surface at the Landing Sites of
Surveyors 5, 6, and 7," Science 167, 1722-1724 (1970).
6. James H. Patterson, Anthony. Turkevich, Ernest J.
Franzgrote, Thanasis E. Economou, Kenneth P. Sowinski. "Chemical
Composition of the Lunar Surface in a Terra Region near the
Crater Tycho/' Science 168, 825-828 (1970).
; " ~ 13 -
7- Thanasis E. Economou, Anthony L. Turkevich, Kenneth
P. Sowinski, James H. Patterson and. Ernest J. Franzgrote. "The
Alpha-Scattering Technique of Chemical Analysis," J. Geo. Res. 75>
6514-6523 (1970).
8. Anthony L. Turkevich. "Comparison of the Analytical
Results from the Surveyor, Apollo, and Luna Missions," Proc. of
the Second Lunar Science Conference, Vol. 2, pp. 1209-15, M.I.T.
Press (1971) •
9- Thanasis E. Economou and Anthony L. Turkevich.
"Examination of Returned Surveyor III Camera Visor for Alpha
Radioactivity," Proc. of the Second Lunar Science Conference,
Vol. 3, pp. 2699-2703, M.I.T. Press (1971).
* Because of the essentially continuous nature of the work
covered, by this grant, the earlier contract NASA-JPL-951347
and. the subsequent NASA grant, NASA NAS 9-7883, these
publications may cover partly overlapping periods.


Post-mission data analysis of Surveyor mission chemical data

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