Series Description

Physical Description: 42 folders.

This series is arranged into two subseries consisting of regular mission reports prepared for the Lunar Prospector teams and NASA headquarters on weekly, monthly, and quarterly bases. The records provide an overview of the mission's management, from tracking costs, schedules, and performance metrics to overseeing the development and testing of the spacecraft.

1. Monthly Project Management Reports

The first subseries of thirty-one files contains monthly reports. Dated from May 1995 through January 1998, these are prepared by the Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space Company's Space Systems Division according to requirements in contract NAS2-14256. Compiled by Lunar Prospector Project Manager Thomas A. Dougherty and Principal Investigator Alan B. Binder, the reports summarize project activities and program status. Included are cost, schedule, and technical information: budget tracking tables, performance management metrics, master and subsystem schedules, and status reports.

2. Quarterly Reviews and Monthly Status, Financial, and Weekly Activity Reports

The second subseries of eleven files consists of monthly status reports prepared for NASA headquarters that are dated from 1995 to 1997, quarterly reviews dated from January 1997 through December 1998, and weekly activity reports dated from October 27, 1995 through October 24, 1997. The headquarters monthly status reports and quarterly reviews were prepared by Ames Mission Manager G. Scott Hubbard, Deputy Mission Manager Sylvia Cox, and Operations Manager Marcie Smith, with regular contributions from Principal Investigator Alan Binder and Dynamics Officer Daniel Swanson. These short documents are formatted as presentations with headings and bulleted remarks. Contents include programmatic assessments and reporting on operations, public relations, education, issues and concerns, schedules, financial status, anomalies, science instruments, and the extended mission. Weekly activity reports, compiled by Program Manager Thomas A. Dougherty, detail ongoing project activities and run from one to six pages long. Regular submissions from various team leads such as Irving Bernard, Kimberly Foster, Robert Garner, William Jacobsen, and Woody Woodcock provide insight into spacecraft design, testing, troubleshooting, launch vehicle integration, system engineering, electrical power, avionics, ground system, software, scheduling, and program office activities.

Physical Description: 30 folders.

This series contains engineering systems design and operations review documentation generated throughout the mission, dated from July 1995 through November 1998. Included are 1995 internal and technical design reviews; 1996 status, formal design, and test readiness reviews; and 1997-1998 critical design, pre-ship, flight, spacecraft, launch readiness, and extended mission reviews.

Physical Description: 35 folders.

This series consists of records specific to launching the Lunar Prospector spacecraft, the bulk of which are dated from 1995 to 1998. Included are launch vehicle status and update records; critical design reviews; launch risk assessment and management documents; launch vehicle and propulsion subsystem descriptions; and launch sequence and countdown instructions.

Physical Description: 82 folders.

This series consists of two record books and files related to all mission management activities, from the program's inception through spacecraft and mission operations, to end of mission wrap up and review. Contents include proposals for the original and extended missions, subcontractor and partner agreements and contract modifications, requirements documents, management plans, program plans, guidelines, correspondence, meeting agendas, presentations, status reports, communication system test procedures and results, timelines, organization charts, rosters, team lists, awards lists, and outreach materials. Also present are records related to spacecraft tracking, environmental assessment, operations planning, data management and data archiving.

Of interest is a record book by Robert W. Jackson, the Spacecraft Operations Branch Chief for NASA Ames during the mission. Dated from 1995-1999, with most entries in 1995, the book contains handwritten notes with related documents pasted on or tucked between pages, primarily concerning technical oversight of ground operations, such as communications, tracking, and data archiving. Included are correspondence, organization charts, meeting agendas, memoranda, and scattered portions of project, planning, proposal, and budget documents.

Physical Description: 14 folders.

This series consists of scientific findings, in the form of article copies and reprints, from data collected during the Lunar Prospector mission. Subjects discussed include the overall mission, neutron measurements supplying evidence for water ice at the poles, lunar surface magnetic fields, lunar gravity fields, and lunar elemental maps.

Physical Description: 10 VHS tapes.

This series consists of video recordings. Most tapes contain news footage about the mission award selection, flight, and results, in the form of NASA press conferences and news clips from cable and television channels. One tape has 42-minutes of unedited footage of a boom arm deployment test.