Apollo Lunar Surface
Experiment Package (ALSEP)
Suprathermal Ion Detector
(SIDE)
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Nice one of the Apollo 14 SIDE. Note the grounding screen
spider-web looking thing under it. This was necessary because the purpose
of the experiment was to study ions, which are positive or negatively charged
atoms. The cable running off to the left goes to the Cold Cathode Ion Gauge,
which unfortunately wasn't incuded in this photo.
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Left - diagram of the SIDE/CCIG
Right - Apollo 15 SIDE. The cable linking the CCIG was
replaced with a boom due to the problems the previous crews had with deploying
the CCIG. Whenever they pulled on the cable, either the SIDE or the CCIG
would fall over or move out of it's proper East/West alignment.
Apollo Experiment Number: S 036
Apollo Missions: 12, 14, 15
Wt: 8.5 - 8.8 kg
Dim: 38.9 x 33.0 x 11.4 cm
This was a neat experiment
in a really odd looking box. The SIDE had 3 legs and a cable which connected
it to the Cold Cathode Ion Gauge (CCIG) experiment,
and it sat on top of a spiderweb-looking grounding screen. The astronauts
had a tough time trying to set up and align the instrument because the
SIDE, CCIG and grounding screen tended to interact together whenever one
part of the system was moved.
Due to deployment problems on A
12 & 14, the A 15 SIDE was redesigned so that the CCIG was on an extendable
boom rather than a cable, which worked much better.
This instrument was so sensitive
that it became standard to use the LM cabin O2 venting before EVA 2 to
calibrate it. Bear in mind that it was deployed several hundred feet
from the LM!
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