- surveyor
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—surveyorship, n./seuhr vay"euhr/, n.1. a person whose occupation is surveying.2. an overseer or supervisor.3. Chiefly Brit. a person who inspects something officially for the purpose of ascertaining condition, value, etc.4. (formerly) a U.S. customs official responsible for ascertaining the quantity and value of imported merchandise.5. (cap.) U.S. Aerospace. one of a series of space probes (1966-68) that analyzed lunar soil and obtained other scientific information after soft-landing on the moon.[1375-1425; late ME surveio(u)r < AF surveiour; MF surve(i)our, equiv. to surve(i)- (see SURVEY) + -our -OR2]
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Any of a series of seven unmanned U.S. space probes sent to make soft landings on the Moon in 1966–68.Surveyor 2 crashed on the Moon, and radio contact with Surveyor 4 was lost minutes before landing, but the rest sent back thousands of photographs; some were equipped to sample and test lunar soil. Surveyor 6 made the first liftoff from an extraterrestrial body; Surveyor 7 landed in the lunar highlands and returned data showing that the landscape and soil there differ from those of lower areas. See also Luna; Pioneer; Ranger.* * *
any of a series of seven unmanned U.S. space probes sent to the Moon between 1966 and 1968 to photograph and study the lunar surface. Surveyor 1 (launched May 30, 1966), carrying a scanning television camera and special sensors, landed on the Moon on June 2, 1966, and transmitted 11,150 photographs as well as information about environmental conditions on the Moon. Surveyor 2 crashed on the Moon (Sept. 23, 1966). Surveyor 3 (April 17, 1967) included additional equipment such as a surface-sampling device and two small mirrors to expand the camera vision; it returned 6,315 photographs. Surveyor 4 crashed or soft-landed on the Moon (July 16, 1967). Surveyor 5 (Sept. 8, 1967) measured the proportions of chemical elements in lunar soil and studied other surface properties; it returned 18,000 photographs.After taking photographs of one area of the Moon's surface, Surveyor 6 (Nov. 7, 1967) was lifted, moved 8 feet (2.4 m), and repositioned to continue photographing another area. This marked the first lift-off from an extraterrestrial body. Altogether, 27,000 photographs were obtained. Surveyor 7 (Jan. 7, 1968) was the only probe in the series that was soft-landed in the highland region of the Moon. Data transmitted by the craft revealed that the chemical composition and landscape of this region was quite different from those of sites at lower elevations. This craft obtained 21,000 photographs. See also space exploration.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
