Surveyor 2

Surveyor model on Earth

Mission type| Lunar lander
Operator| NASA
COSPAR ID| 1966-084A
SATCAT no.| 02425
Mission duration| 45 hours 3 min. to last contact; 62 hours 46 min. to failed soft landing
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer| Hughes Aircraft
Launch mass| 995.2 kilograms (2,194 lb)[1]
Dry mass| 292 kilograms (644 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date| September 20, 1966, 12:32:00 (1966-09-20UTC12:32Z) UTC [1]
Rocket| Atlas LV-3C Centaur-D AC-7
Launch site| Cape Canaveral LC-36A
Lunar impact (failed landing)
Impact date| September 23, 1966, 03:18:00 UTC
Impact site|  [ ⚑ ] 4°00′S 11°00′W﻿ / ﻿04.0°S 11.0°W﻿ / -04.0; -11.0

Surveyor

<- Surveyor 1

Surveyor 3 ->

Surveyor 2 was to be the second lunar lander in the uncrewed American Surveyor program to explore the Moon. After launch on September 20, 1966, a mid-course correction failure resulted in the spacecraft losing control. Contact was lost with the spacecraft at 9:35 UTC, September 22.

## Contents

* 1 Background
* 2 Launch
* 3 Failure
* 4 Aftermath
* 5 Centaur upper stage
* 6 See also
* 7 References
* 8 External links

## Background

Main article: Astronomy:Surveyor program

On February 3, 1966, the Luna 9 spacecraft was the first spacecraft to achieve a lunar soft landing and to transmit photographic data to Earth. On May 30, Surveyor 1 launched, landing on Oceanus Procellarum on June 2. This craft also transmitted photographic data back to Earth.

This spacecraft was the second of a series designed to achieve a soft landing on the Moon and to return lunar surface photography for determining characteristics of the lunar terrain for Apollo program lunar landing missions.[2] Besides transmitting photos, Surveyor 2 was planned to perform a 'bounce', to photograph underneath its own landing site. It was also equipped to return data on radar reflectivity of the lunar surface, bearing strength of the lunar surface, and spacecraft temperatures for use in the analysis of lunar surface temperatures.

## Launch

Launch of Surveyor 2 on an Atlas-Centaur (AC-7)

The launch took place from Space Launch Complex 36A at Cape Kennedy, Florida aboard an Atlas-Centaur rocket.[3] Liftoff was at 12:32 UTC on 20 September 1966.[4]

## Failure

The target area proposed was within Sinus Medii. The Atlas-Centaur had placed Surveyor 2 on a path to the Moon that was only 130 km from its aim point. During the midcourse correction maneuver one vernier thruster failed to ignite, resulting in unbalanced thrust that caused the spacecraft to tumble for its remaining 54 hours. Attempts to salvage the mission failed. Contact was lost with the spacecraft at 9:35 UTC, September 22. The spacecraft was targeted at Sinus Medii, but crashed near Copernicus crater. The spacecraft was calculated to have impacted the lunar surface at 03:18 UTC, September 23, 1966. Its weight on impact was 644 lb (292 kg), and speed was about 6000 miles an hour (2.6 km/s = 5840 mph), slightly over lunar escape velocity (2.4 km/s) and similar to the impact velocities of the Ranger program spacecraft.[5]

## Aftermath

Lunar exploration continued to be challenging. The next Soviet mission, Cosmos 111, was launched on March 1, 1966, but failed to reach a proper lunar trajectory, re-entering Earth's atmosphere two days later. Surveyor 3 soft-landed on April 20, 1967, at the Mare Cognitum portion of the Oceanus Procellarum. It transmitted a total of 6,315 television images to the Earth.

There were seven Surveyor missions; five were successful. Surveyors 2 and 4 failed. Each consisted of a single uncrewed spacecraft designed and built by Hughes Aircraft Company. The precise location of the Surveyor 2 crash site is unknown.

## Centaur upper stage

Main article: Astronomy:2020 SO

Animation of 2020 SO around Earth

The Centaur upper stage of the rocket used to launch Surveyor continued on its original trajectory past the Moon, placing it into a solar orbit similar to that of the Earth. The Centaur was untracked from that point forward. In August 2020, NASA announced the sighting of an object in a solar orbit which could shortly make a close pass with the Earth.[6] On September 23, 2020, NASA announced that this was likely the lost Centaur booster, and likely to be re-captured into Earth orbit. This would be the second time that a rocket upper stage has done so, after the upper stage of a Saturn V rocket from the Apollo 12 launch re-entered Earth orbit in 2002.[7] In December 2020, NASA confirmed that it was the lost Centaur stage.[8]

## See also

* List of artificial objects on the Moon
* List of missions to the Moon

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Surveyor 2". NASA's Solar System Exploration website. 27 December 2017. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/surveyor-2/in-depth/.
2. ↑ "Surveyor 2 on way". The Age - 21 September 1966. 21 September 1966. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jx0QAAAAIBAJ&sjid=apMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2577,3386174&dq=surveyor+2&hl=en.
3. ↑ "Central Moon Landing Try for Surveyor 2". The Deseret News. 19 September 1966. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=FJMOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5H8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5214,4310701&dq=surveyor+2&hl=en.
4. ↑ "Surveyor 2". NASA. https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1966-084A.
5. ↑ "Boeing: Satellite Development Center - Scientific Exploration - Surveyor". http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/space/bss/factsheets/scientific/surveyor/surveyor.html.
6. ↑ "JPL Small-Body Database Browser". https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=2020 SO;old=0;orb=0;cov=0;log=0;cad=1#cad.
7. ↑ Meghan Bartels (September 23, 2020). "Earth may get a new minimoon — but it may just be 1960s space junk". https://www.space.com/earth-minimoon-2020-so-may-be-vintage-space-junk.
8. ↑ "New Data Confirm 2020 SO to be the Upper Centaur Rocket Booster from the 1960's". NASA. 2 December 2020. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/new-data-confirm-2020-so-to-be-the-upper-centaur-rocket-booster-from-the-1960-s.

## External links

* Labeled Lunar Orbiter 4 photograph showing the Surveyor 2 crash site: IV-114-H1
* Surveyor 2 flight performance Final report - Jan 1967 (PDF)
* Surveyor Program Results (PDF) 1969

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Lunar landing missions

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Surveyor program

* Surveyor 1
* Surveyor 2
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* Surveyor 4
* Surveyor 5
* Surveyor 6
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Orbital launches in 1966

Kosmos 104 | OPS 2394 | OPS 7253 * OPS 3179 | Kosmos 105 | Kosmos 106 | OPS 1593 | Luna 9 | OPS 7291 | ESSA-1 | OPS 1439 | Kosmos 107 | Kosmos 108 | OPS 1184 * OPS 3011 * OPS 3031 | Dipason | Kosmos 109 | DS-K-40 No.2 | Kosmos 110 | ESSA-2 | Kosmos 111 | OPS 3488 | GATV-5003 | Gemini VIII | Kosmos 112 | OPS 0879 * OPS 0974 | Kosmos 113 | N-4 No.3 | OPS 1117 | Molniya-1 No.5 | OV1-4 * OV1-5 | OPS 0340 | Luna 10 | Kosmos 114 | OPS 1612 | Surveyor SD-3 | OAO-1 | OPS 0910 | Kosmos 115 | OV3-1 | Molniya 1-03 | Kosmos 116 | OPS 1508 | Kosmos 117 | Kosmos 118 | OPS 1950 * OPS 6785 | Nimbus 2 | Zenit-4 | GATV-5004 | OPS 0082 | OPS 1788 | Kosmos 119 | Explorer 32 | Surveyor 1 | ATDA | Gemini IX-A | OPS 1577 * OPS 1856 | OGO-3 | Kosmos 120 | OV3-4 | FTV-1351 * Secor 6 * ERS-16 | OPS 9311 * OPS 9312 * OPS 9313 * OPS 9314 * OPS 9315 * OPS 9316 * OPS 9317 * GGTS | Kosmos 121 | OPS 1599 | PAGEOS | Kosmos 122 | Explorer 33 | AS-203 | Proton 3 | Kosmos 123 | OPS 1850 | OV1-7 * OV1-8 | Kosmos 124 | GATV-5005 | Gemini X | Kosmos 125 | Kosmos 126 | OPS 3014 | OV3-3 | Kosmos 127 | OPS 1545 | Lunar Orbiter 1 | OPS 1832 * OPS 6810 | Pioneer 7 | OPS 2366 | FTV-1352 * Secor 7 * ERS-15 | Luna 11 | IDSCP 1 * IDSCP 2 * IDSCP 3 * IDSCP 4 * IDSCP 5 * IDSCP 6 * IDSCP 7 * GGTS | Kosmos 128 | GATV-5006 | Gemini XI | OPS 6026 | OPS 1686 * OPS 6874 | Zenit-2 No.40 | OPS 6026 | OPS 1686 * OPS 6874 | OGCh No.05L | Surveyor 2 | OPS 1703 | Ōsumi 1 | OPS 4096 | ESSA-3 | FTV-1583 * Secor 8 | OPS 2055 * OPS 5345 | Kosmos 129 | Molniya 1-04 | Kosmos 130 | Luna 12 | Surveyor SM-3 | Intelsat II F-1 | OV3-2 | OGCh No.06L | OPS 2070 * OPS 5424 | OPS 0855 * OV4-1R * OV4-1T * OV1-6 | Lunar Orbiter 2 | OPS 1866 | GATV-5001A | Gemini XII | Kosmos 131 | Strela-2 No.1 | Kosmos 132 | Kosmos 133 | Kosmos 134 | OPS 1890 | ATS-1 | OV1-9 * OV1-10 | Kosmos 135 | Soyuz 7K-OK No.1 | OPS 8968 | Biosatellite 1 | Kosmos 136 | Ōsumi 2 | Kosmos 137 | Luna 13 | OPS 1584

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