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Author
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Topic: Apollo lunar module EASEP or ALSEP interiors
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tetrox
Member Posts: 142
From: London England
Registered: Jan 2008
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posted 09-04-2014 02:10 PM
   
It's a bit of a long-shot but I wonder if anyone would have a clear photograph of the Apollo lunar module MESA EASEP or ALSEP compartment interior without the experiment pallets installed?I am trying to ascertain the detail of the interior structure and actual shape and have been looking everywhere I can think of to no avail. I do have the "Virtual LM" book but would really appreciate a photograph for accuracy. Many thanks. |
nasamad
Member Posts: 2121
From: Essex, UK
Registered: Jul 2001
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posted 09-04-2014 03:18 PM
Is it definitely the MESA you want? I only ask because the interior of the MESA was insulated with Mylar like the rest of the descent stage, there is no detail to be seen. Your mention of the experiment pallets makes me think your looking for images of the interior of the Seq bay, which wasn't insulated and had to have its doors shut after EASEP/ALSEP offloading. Some detail can been seen of these in mission photography. Is this what you are referring to? |
tetrox
Member Posts: 142
From: London England
Registered: Jan 2008
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posted 09-04-2014 04:27 PM
Thank you, you are absolutely right. I'm having a bad lunar module acronym day. I should have re-read prior to posting and apologise. I have edited the text of my post.Thank you for kindly posting the picture of the EASEP compartment during training. It is actually this photo which led me to make my initial post as I cannot work out what is going on in the left-hand corner of the interior and presumably the right. In virtually all of my lunar module drawings, the compartments are shown as rectangles with a clipped corner which in turn the EASEP/ALSEP pallets also have to fit within. The photo you have shown suggests the compartment walls are not simple rectangles as I had first assumed and I was hoping to find a photo of flight hardware to see the interior wall in more detail for a project I'm working on. |
nasamad
Member Posts: 2121
From: Essex, UK
Registered: Jul 2001
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posted 09-05-2014 09:44 AM
Take a look at some of the details of the EASEP PSEP and the LRRR and you will see that they were both constructed with clipped corners. As you correctly stated the Seq bay does have clipped corners, this is purely due to the tapering shape of each LM descent stage quad and the trade off between depth and width in such a space.It's probably well worth looking at Kipp Teague's Apollo Archive site for the training photographs, that may help you. |
tetrox
Member Posts: 142
From: London England
Registered: Jan 2008
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posted 09-05-2014 12:11 PM
Thank you for your reply.Whilst I'm aware of why the EASEP/ALSEP pallets are the shape they are with the cut corner to fit within the triangular confine of Quad 2, I had been led to believe through my drawings that the pallets were placed into two chambers marginally larger than the pallets themselves, i.e. similar to the base of the seismometer in your photograph. Here is the area I am trying to verify (see arrow).  It appears the geometry of the walls is a little more complex than I first thought and I was looking for a little more clarity. I have been looking through photo after photo in the ALSJ/Apollo archive and trying to highlight this area, but as I mentioned in my first post it was a bit of a longshot. Again, many thanks. |
nasamad
Member Posts: 2121
From: Essex, UK
Registered: Jul 2001
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posted 09-05-2014 03:01 PM
That's okay, glad to try to help. My copy of Virtual LM is in storage so I can't refer to it but I think it showed the cut corners of the bay having two angles on it rather than a straight corner missing. It's hard to describe but it's almost as if the first angle from the back wall matched the pallets and the next angle went towards the side walls?! I haven't seen inside the bay on a real LM so can't help you there, but there is a LM I believe at the Cradle of Aviation Museum that is displayed in unfinished uninsulated condition so may be worth searching for that. |
Jurg Bolli
Member Posts: 977
From: Albuquerque, NM
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 09-05-2014 03:20 PM
Yes, there is a LM uninsulated at the Cradle, but this is an early test article, and the bay may not be representative of the final configuration. |
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