Ranger probe Block IV and V - (info wanted)

[Michel Van]

The US lunar probe Ranger
Was build in different version Block I to III, proposed were IV and V 

Got someone more info on Block IV and V ?
So far i known Block V had little lander build by Northrop
NOTE: this not the lander used on Block II flights, its another design

and were further proposal to use Ranger  as interplanetary probe except Mariner 1 & 2  ?

[JoeFromRIUSA]

Michel:

  LUNAR IMPACT: A History of Project Ranger is available online and will answer your questions

[libra]

I became veeeery interested in the Ranger hard landers, presents on the Block II probes. They were little bundles packed with smart ideas. Plywood with water and a rocket, to drop a seismometer on the Moon long before Luna 9.
None of these things ever got a chance, as the main probe around them went dead every time. They actually saved the day as their independant transmitter allowed DSN to track the dead probe.
One of them made it to the Moon when the dead Ranger crashed on the Moon.

All this to say that the hard landers were to return on the Block V, only for that one to be canned after 1962, annus horribilis.

https://www.drewexmachina.com/?s=Ranger

[leovinus]

The US lunar probe Ranger
Was build in different version Block I to III, proposed were IV and V 

Got someone more info on Block IV and V ?

NTRS 19640047144 ,"Ranger block iv human engineering program plan, revision c", 1963,

[Phil Stooke]

The Ranger program was nothing short of frustrating.

*First launch the unproven Agena B doesn't restart in orbit due to sunlight overheating a switch
*Second launch the Agena roll gyro fails so it can't be restarted
*Third launch the Atlas guidance system fails so it gets on an incorrect flight trajectory, probe dies en route
*Fourth launch the booster works fine, the probe dies en route
*Fifth launch the probe dies en route
*Sixth launch the probe mostly works but the camera dies

Succeeded on attempt 7 with the Block III probes which deleted the scientific instruments and were little more than a flying camera. It was early and they were trying spacecraft designs too ambitious for period technology to pull off, and the launch vehicles were not amazingly reliable either.

That must be what Elon based his design philosophy on... fly, fix, fly, fix...

[leovinus]

Anyone looked
Ranger Program / Agena Rocket Vehicles Collection
https://sirismm.si.edu/EADpdfs/NASM.2013.0014.pdf
to see whether that has additional info?

[WallE]

Anyone looked
Ranger Program / Agena Rocket Vehicles Collection
https://sirismm.si.edu/EADpdfs/NASM.2013.0014.pdf
to see whether that has additional info?

NASA Agena stages were rather different from Air Force ones, most of which were bus satellites instead of simply a rocket stage to boost the payload. "Agena Flight History to 31 December 1967" has some details but is missing a lot of stuff eg. the page for Ranger 1/Agena 6001. They had not wanted to use Agena for planetary probes, they hoped to use Centaur but they didn't really have a choice because of how long it took to get that operational.

Atlas-Agena originally used the LV-3A which was an Atlas D ICBM with a few modifications like thicker tank skin. The NASA and Air Force ones were similar but with different guidance systems for East and West Coast launches. Later they adopted the standardized SLV-3 core and more powerful 165k thrust engines. There are some mission reports for the later Ranger flights on NTRS although not for the early ones that predated the '64 switch when NASA began drafting their own mission reports.

When Ranger 1 went up, it was only the second time an Atlas-Agena B had even flown; NASA assumed the Air Force programs would fly first and return booster performance data, but they ended up being majorly delayed while the Ranger program moved along quickly. At least NASA didn't have so many instances of Agena launches ending in an explosion while that happened on Air Force launches quite a number of times.

[Jim]

NASA Agena stages were rather different from Air Force ones, most of which were bus satellites instead of simply a rocket stage to boost the payload. "Agena Flight History to 31 December 1967" has some details but is missing a lot of stuff eg. the page for Ranger 1/Agena 6001. They had not wanted to use Agena for planetary probes, they hoped to use Centaur but they didn't really have a choice because of how long it took to get that operational.

no, it was Vega for Ranger

[Jim]

There are some mission reports for the later Ranger flights on NTRS although not for the early ones that predated the '64 switch when NASA began drafting their own mission reports.

That is due to launch ops management changing from MSFC to GSFC.