Technical Letter: Astrogeology-11 Apollo Applications Program Investigations Field Test 3

Apollo Applications Program (AAP) Test 3 was held in Flagstaff, Arizona, as an initial feasibility study of rock thin-section preparation and remote television monitoring of the microscopic image, for possible use on AAP missions.
During the 18 hours of actual test operations 38 thin sections were prepared. Of these, 25 were examined with a petrographic microscope with a television link to the Communications Data Reception and Analysis facility (CDRA) in another part of town.
Instruments tested included a semi-automatic thin-section fabricating apparatus and two microscope-television systems. The exchange of information between test subjects and CDRA personnel was more coordinated and of greater geologic value than in previous tests of an analytical nature, and a satisfactory amount of petrographic data was accumulated during the test.