“BALTIMORE, April 19 [1962] -- MAN ON THE MOON -- This is an artist’s concept of the Surveyor spacecraft, a nuclear-powered automatic laboratory designed by the National Aeronautic[s] and Space Administration. The moon craft is scheduled for launching by the United States and landing on the moon to gather data for later manned landings. Hughes Aircraft Company will build the spacecraft, with the Martin Co. of Baltimore building the atomic power-pack (near center). The power-pack was designed by the Atomic Energy Commission.”
Huh…say what?
Who knew?
Did YOU??
I DIDN’T!!!
As if the above atomic 😉 bombshell (to me) wasn’t enough, the obscure concept is by the hand of yet another Martin Co. ‘mystery’ artist/illustrator…”OLIVARI”.
What a “Dream Team” of superior, yet nearly anonymous, talent: DiPietro/Gorsuch/Fahdt/Olivari!
Nothing on Mr./Ms. Olivari.
Although a little out of context without copy/pasting page upon page upon page, some excellent & informative background:
“Many of the original RTG team thought of the early years after Seaborg (Glenn Seaborg: AEC Chairman) came to the AEC as the “golden days” of the AEC— before the big and costly space systems and missions of NASA involved increasingly large numbers of people and organizations in the RTG program. From 1962 to 1965, the antinuclear movement was not yet vociferous, the future of nuclear power and its widespread uses looked promising, and the chairman of the AEC was a scientist who believed strongly in nuclear power and its wedding to space ventures. Moreover, Seaborg inspired loyalties and a sense of common purpose in the people of the AEC. Carpenter (Robert T. Carpenter: head of the isotope office of the SNAP Program) recalled that it was common to meet the top man in the halls at AEC’S Germantown building and to be greeted by name and asked questions about the program: “We had a personal relationship with Seaborg, and we also had a close arrangement with the Commissioners.” He added that problems on the Hill were few and that the program received support from both the AEC and the Congress, whose members pressed for a flight schedule on space nuclear propulsion, eager to see the SNAP-isotope technology get its chances to fly. In those years, according to Carpenter, the AEC allowed engineers to do everything from start to finish on their programs-at least on the small isotopic power program. The RTG group chose to have just a few hands holding all the reins. Carpenter recalled: “I prepared budget documents, defended them before Congress, ran my program and participated in the launches.”
Carpenter explained that few contractors were involved in the early days because the program was small and there wasn’t a great deal of money available for space-isotopic power development. He indicated that SNAP-3 was built on a purchase order from the Martin Company to the 3M Company for a very small amount Martin got involved in isotopic power, while others held back, because “they were into space in a big way and their programs were long range. A lot of other firms that got involved later came in when there was more money in the budgets. Like when we got going on Apollo.”
In the initial development period, the circle was limited, encompassing the small group at the AEC and small groups in other institutions the isotope power experimenters and developers at Martin-Baltimore and their subcontractors at 3M the fuel packagers at Monsanto’s Mound Laboratory and users
such as the Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University which developed the Transit navigational satellite system for the Navy. This team proceeded to develop the SNAP-9A with its increased power requirements for the operational Transit scheduled for flight in late 1962. At the same time, a series of SNAP-7 devices were under development at Martin for use by the Navy, Coast Guard, and Weather Bureau for navigation lights and weather stations on earth.
NASA began to enter into contracts with the AEC to study possible applications of isotopic SNAPS to future space missions. Even before Apollo, NASA recognized that there would be unusually severe power system requirements for lunar missions “due to the weight and space limitations of payload, the
14-day lunar nights, and the variety of the intended experiments.’” By the fall of 1961, NASA reconfirmed its requirements for an isotopic power unit for the Surveyor soft lunar landing mission and the AEC prepared to provide two SNAP devices—designated SNAP-11s—to NASA for missions scheduled to take place two years later. In mid-1962 NASA began preliminary discussions with the AEC on the possibility that an RTG could provide primary power requirements for one of a series of satellites called Interplanetary Monitoring Probes. Along with foreseen technical advantages, NASA hoped to use the
RTG to enhance its own “capability and experience in the use and application of nuclear devices.”
Reporting to the JCAE in September 1962 on space nuclear power applications, Commissioner Hayworth of the AEC stated “Nuclear power not only will enhance space exploration; its use, both for propulsion and for auxiliary power, is the key to extensive outer space exploration.” He reviewed the developments
and tests in the Rover program to develop nuclear rocket propulsion and admitted that there had been disappointments causing delays. Turning to the isotopic power side of the SNAP program, Hayworth reported with “considerable satisfaction” on program successes launchings in June and November of
the previous year of isotope power devices on Navy Transit navigational satellites. Looking to the future, he said, “We are continuing to work closely with DOD and NASA to satisfy their requirements for space SNAP devices, and... we have developed a plutonium 238 fueled 25-watt unit, SNAP-9-A, for
use in the Navy’s operational prototype Transit satellites.” Hayworth also spoke of the work with NASA on the development of the SNAP-11, a 25-watt curium-242 fueled thermoelectric generator planned for powering the Surveyor soft landing lander.
Thus, NASA readied itself for the time when it would become the major user of the isotope units and the small RTG group would open its membership to growing numbers of people and organizations.”
Above from/at:
fas.org/nuke/space/history.pdf
Credit: Federation of American Scientists website
Also:
“Because of the Centaur design changes, Surveyor also had to shed some mass. The new design called for a somewhat lighter 950-kilogram lander carrying only 52 kilograms of instruments. Advanced design work continued and several new options were added to the lander’s design, including the use of a Martin-Marietta SNAP-11 nuclear generator to supply Surveyor A with 18.6 watts of power for ninety days. While this was only a fraction of what was needed to operate Surveyor, this generator would supply minimal power during the long lunar night when the solar panels would be useless. By the end of 1962, plans called for seven Surveyor A landing missions starting in late 1964 and five Surveyor B orbiters with the first launch expected in 1965. Options for five or more additional landers were also being considered.”
Above from/at:
www.drewexmachina.com/2016/05/30/surveyor-1-americas-firs...
Credit: Andrew LePage/Drew ExMachina website
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_for_Nuclear_Auxiliary_Power
Credit: Wikipedia
