Here is a vintage Hughes Aircraft Company 'LEM OPTICAL TRACKER SYSTEM MANUAL' dated July 30, 1965. Approximately 400 pages! Obviously rough around the edges, with the name 'J. Albert' on the cover and title page as pictured below. Google shows nothing on this name but he was obviously involved in the development of the system as this manual shows quite a bit of wear and tear. It is typical of the types of items I love to collect: it was obviously used at the time and is personalized with the original owners' name. Anyone with information about a 'J. Albert' who was associated with Hughes Aircraft Company, or NASA, during that time please let me know.
FYI, I believe that this system was developed as an alternative to the rendezvous radar and was used to facilitate the CSM and LM locating one another in moon orbit prior to docking for the return trip home to earth.
COVER
TITLE PAGE
FOREWORD
SUMMARY
SUMMARY cont.
TOC
TOC cont.
TOC cont.
PAGE A-35
FIGURE A-1.13
PARAMETRIC RELATIONSHIPS
(HUH!)
I think this page is interesting because it demonstrates just how brilliant the people behind the scenes were who designed, built, tested, delivered, and supported the systems which sent the astronauts to the moon and safely returned them to the earth.
PAGE A-40
I included the below pages as examples of the types of
handwritten corrections/notations found throughout the manual.
Albert liked his red pen!
PAGE A-123
FIGURE A-1.44
SENSITIVITY TRADEOFF TABLE
Another example of handwritten corrections/notations in the manual.
PAGE A-224
FIGURE A-2.5
CROSSED SLIT PATTERN IN STAR TRACK MODE
And another example.
PAGE A-205
FIGURE A-1.81
BEACON LOCATION ON SERVICE MODULE
PAGE A-211
FIGURE A-2.1
LEM OPTICAL SENSOR
This blog has a comments section where people can leave comments. I rarely check these comments because I have received so few of them. However, on, or about, October 28, 2020, I noticed I had six comments rather than the five I had previously been aware of. I said 'Hot damn, somebody left me a new comment!'. When I checked on the 'newest' comment, I saw that a Cline Frasier had left me a comment about this item.... WAY BACK ON FEBRUARY 21, 2015!!! Over five years prior!!! And here is the comment he left:
I don't know who 'J. Albert' is. The only Albert I can think of is Albert Hopkins. He was a computer designer at the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory during that time.
At the time, I was at NASA/Houston and the development was my concept as a system idea to save weight (basically, to reduce the LEM weight enough to fly).
If you are interested in more history, I'll try to help.
Cline Frasier
'I'm looking forward to seeing the manual.
The back story is:
In late 1964 Grumman admitted the LEM was discovered to be about 100 pounds dry weight too heavy. This was after multiple weight reduction exercises and Grumman basically said they were not sure if they could find 100# to take out of the design.
At the time, the LEM had a rendezvous radar (100+ pounds) to track the Command Service Module in orbit and fixed alignment optics (~28 pounds) to align the inertial systems.
I realized that an optical tracking system could replace both radar and alignment optics at about the weight of the alignment optics -- save the needed 100 lb.
The "experts" said an optical tracking system couldn't be done and, if it could, it would take five years -- which we didn't have.
I got an approval to run a feasibility study because management was desperate and the optical tracking system was the only idea anyone had to get the weight down.
By early 1965, MIT/Instrumentation Laboratory and Grumman did the work and found that it was feasible -- with high schedule risk.
I finished the technical and schedule feasibility report in March 65.
At this time, the radar was having technical problems and running behind schedules.
By May 1965, NASA decided to launch a project to develop an optical rendezvous tracking system as an insurance policy. AC Electronics Division of GM was selected as the prime contractor for the project (AC was also the prime contractor for all the Primary Guidance & Control System hardware, etc.).
~May 5, 1965, the optical development was launched with AC, using my report as the specification and introduction to the interfaces, etc.
AC immediately launched a competitive selection for a 3 month preliminary design phase. Hughes, Perkin-Elmer and Itek were selected.
September 1965, Hughes was selected for the development.
January, 1966, Hughes had the system designed and run through pre-qualification testing. Naturally, some problems were found -- that were straightforward to fix.
January, 1966, NASA management decided to continue with both the radar and the optical systems and have competitive "fly off" testing to be finished by May 1966.
~May 5, 1966, the "fly off" results were reviewed in a large meeting with all parties represented. The conclusions were:
Both systems had demonstrated they would work and meet the needed schedules.
Grumman had found other ways to reduce the LEM dry weight enough.
The radar provided more operational flexibility.
The astronauts were much more comfortable with radar and the direct measurements of range and range rate.
To proceed with the radar as the primary rendezvous system.
The optical system project was shut down as part of the Apollo Project and converted to a technology program within NASA engineering. NASA Engineering then worked directly with Hughes for subsequent work.
Overall, the optical rendezvous development was considered the fastest and best development project anyone had ever worked on.
Cline'
After finally receiving the copy I sent him, I received the following email from Mr. Frasier:
'Got it. Thank you very much. I just scanned through all 448 pages. You've done a great job, and put in a lot of work, doing all the scanning.
I would not call the document a manual. It is Hughes proposal for a full development of the system.
If my memory is correct, Hughes was awarded a $100K contract around June 1, 1965, for a design definition phase -- to last 90 days.
Since the document was written in July 65, it looks like it was preparation for a full proposal to go to full scale development. That was awarded sometime in September 1965.
An interesting thing is how quickly Hughes put together such a comprehensive document.
They must of had some advance knowledge of what we were thinking of inside NASA, MIT/IL and Grumman.
I'm guessing this because I'm quite sure that AC Electronics didn't have a clue until May 1965.
Cline'
This was the last communication I had with Mr. Frasier. I hope all is well with him. An invaluable source of priceless information about this item from someone who was on the front lines in the United States manned space program and our eventual landings on the moon.
Thank you Mr. Frasier!
While at NASA/Houston, I was the creator of the idea that an optical tracker could replace both the rendezvous radar and the semi-fixed alignment optical telescope on the Lunar Module and then the project manager of the development. The primary motivation was to the save the ~90 pounds that the LM was overweight. The secondary motivation was that the rendezvous radar was not working and was way behind schedule. We had a competitive contract for a design definition phase. Hughes was one of the three we picked. The manual you have is from the 3 month definition phase. In Sept, 65, we picked Hughes to develop a flight system. There is more to the story. I would love to get a copy of the manual as I'm trying to remember exactly how the beacon scanning worked.
Cline Frasier
Posted by: Cline Frasier | February 21, 2015 at 20:11