ALSEP 24-Hour Work Tape Files

Description

This data set contains the data from all the Apollo Lunar Surface Experiment Package (ALSEP) experiments of all five ALSEPs (Apollo 12, 14, 15, 16, 17), except when station 17 was operating at high bit rate. The original raw telemetry tapes (PCM FM) were processed to produce computer tapes that contained the whole ALSEP data stream. These data were processed in Galveston after termination of the JSC processing of ALSEP data February 29, 1976. This data set is a copy of those data files from normal-bit-rate operations for the time period March 1, 1976 through September 30, 1977, when the stations were commanded to stop data transmission. These data were preserved through interest in the Passive Seismic Experiment (PSE) data. This data set is a subset of the "LUNAR" data set distributed by IRIS (Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology, Data Management Center, 1408 NE 45th Street, 2nd Floor, Seattle, Washington 98105).

The ALSEP data format is given in the "LUNAR" data set document "LUNAR -- Catalog for Lunar Seismic Data from Apollo Passive Seismic Experiment on 8-mm Video Cassette (EXABYTE) Tapes", by Yosio Nakamura, Institute for Geophysics, The University of Texas at Austin, June 30, 1990, distributed by IRIS. (NSSDC Technical Reference File ID: B53211-000A.) This document also notes the inclusion of various log and information files, and programs for MAC, PDP-11, and SUN. The document is also available at

http://nssdcftp.gsfc.nasa.gov/miscellaneous/documents/b53211.pdf

However, for instruments other than the PSE, the assignment of the ALSEP data words to parameters of the various instruments must be obtained from the Apollo Scientific Experiments Data Handbook, by Lauderdale and Eichelman, NASA Technical Memorandum TM X-58131, 1974. (NSSDC Document ID: B22807-000A.)