J. B. Adams R. J. Collins G. P. Kuiper H. Masursky J. A. O’Keefe R. A. Phinney Eugene Merle Shoemaker D. E. Gault 1968 <p>Whereas the previous Surveyor missions were undertaken to examine mare surfaces as potential landing areas for the <i>Apollo</i> Program, the primary objective of the <i>Surveyor VII</i> mission, based on purely scientific motivations, was to explore a contrasting highland region and, specifically, to determine the chemistry of the highland material for comparison with the <i>Surveyor V</i> and <i>VI</i> chemical analyses at the mare sites. Site selection was limited to some extent by Surveyor operational constraints, but primarily by the requirements of 10-m-resolution photographs from the <i>Lunar Orbiter</i> Program for landing site certification. None of the nine sites studied in detail appeared capable of providing an unambiguous answer to the highland chemistry. The final selection of a site to the north of Tycho was based on the belief that the youthful character of the structure implied a minimum of contamination to the surface layers by foreign material via meteoritic processes. Moreover, the selection of a site near the rim of a major lunar crater promised insight into the “microscale” properties of a structure that represents the dominant morphologic feature on the moon. </p> application/pdf en Jet Propulsion Laboratory Chapter IX: Lunar theory and processes chapter