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AMS-02
AstroSat
BlackCAT
CALET
Chandra
DAMPE
Einstein Probe
Fermi
GECAM
GRBBeta
HXMT-Insight
IXPE
MAXI
NuSTAR
SRG eRosita /
ART-XC
SVOM
Swift
XMM-Newton
XPoSat
XRISM

AGILE
ANS
ARIEL V
ASCA
BBXRT
BeppoSAX
CGRO
COPERNICUS
COS-B
DXS
EINSTEIN
EUVE
EXOSAT
GINGA
GRANAT
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HAKUCHO
HEAO-1
HEAO-3
HETE-2
Hitomi
OSO-7
OSO-8
ROSAT
Rossi XTE
SAS-2
SAS-3
Suzaku
TENMA
UHURU
VELA 5B
WASS
XQC

Ranger 3 & 5 Missions

Photograph of Ranger 7

The Ranger program was a probe series to transmit close-up black and white photographs of the Moon before crashing into the Lunar surface. Three of the nine Rangers (7,8,9) were successful. Rangers 1 through 5 experienced technical problems which affected the success of the missions: the launch vehicles malfunctioned for Ranger 1 and 2, Rangers 3 and 5 missed the Moon, and Ranger 4 landed on the back side of the Moon and returned no data.

Ranger 3 was launched on 26 January 1962. It carried an instrument designed to measure gamma-rays coming from the surface of the moon. It was intended that the instrument would take some 60 hours of data during the flight before lunar impact in order to determine the interplanetary gamma-ray flux, and to determine the background for the lunar measurements. Twelve hours of data were to be taken with the detector in a stowed position, and the remaining data were to be taken with the detector extended on a 6 ft. boom. These data permitted a determination of the satellite body effect on the measured gamma-ray flux. Missing the moon, the satellite went into a solar orbit (apogee 1.163 AU; perigee 0.9839 AU) and returned no further data.

Mission Characteristics

Lifetime
Jan 1962 (Ranger 3)
Oct 1962 (Ranger 5)
Special Features
  • Close-up imagery of the lunar surface with crash-landing with successful missions
  • Gamma-ray instrumentation for lunar geology with data also collected in cislunar transit

Payload

Gamma Ray Instrument

Energy Range
20 keV – 3.0 MeV
Time Resolution
459.5 s integration time
Both Ranger 3 and Ranger 5 carried the same gamma-ray instrument. The experiment consisted of 3 units: a detector, a 32-channel pulse height analyzer, and a high-voltage power supply. The detector was a beveled 3-in diameter CsI crystal, surrounded in a phoswich arrangement by a 1/8-in thick plastic scintillator. This was coupled to a 3-in photomultiplier tube. The pulse height analyzer provided storage of 2 × 1016 pulses in each channel. Channel 0 recorded all pulses larger than those appearing in channel 31. Alternate spectra were taken over the energy ranges 0.1–3.0 MeV and 20–600 keV. Data were integrated for 459.5 s. On-board radioactive sources allowed for calibration.

Science Highlights

An average cosmic gamma-ray count rate of 0.27 ct/cm2/s between 0.5–2.1 MeV, and 0.67 ct/cm2/s above 2.1 MeV was observed. These values were in good agreement with previous balloon and rocket measurements. The continuum fell roughly as E-2.4 up to 1 MeV and was essentially flat thereafter.

Publications

Gallery