Hog Program

The Hog program, initiated by DASA in 1959, was a pioneering effort to explore the Lun, the second moon of Droo. It was part of the larger Lucifer program, which represented Droo’s ambitious goal to expand lunar exploration akin to the earlier DASA efforts. The Hog program came with a hefty price tag of 426 million Credits, as its design required advanced landers capable of autonomous lunar landings, data collection, and testing. Initially, these landers carried only basic scientific tools, but subsequent missions saw a gradual enhancement in their payload and technology.

The early Hog landers, Hog 1 through Hog 4, were outfitted with simpler instruments, such as compasses, magnets, and basic science devices, to perform preliminary studies on Lun’s surface properties. By the fifth mission, however, engineers had equipped the landers with more sophisticated tools, including water behavior experiments and lasers, to test new hypotheses and expand the scientific scope of the missions.

The landers were powered by six LDG-17 engines, providing the necessary thrust and control for landing on the lunar surface. However, the Hog missions faced multiple early setbacks. The first attempt ended in failure when a navigation and attitude malfunction occurred at 2 minutes and 16 seconds post-launch, causing Hog 1 to lose control and burn up in Droo’s atmosphere. Similarly, Hog 2 experienced a catastrophic issue when its second-stage vacuum engine failed to start, aborting the mission mid-flight.

Hog 3, while closer to success, also faced a critical failure. At approximately 1,500 meters above Lun’s surface, an unexpected shutdown command caused all engines but one to cut off. This incomplete shutdown led to an unbalanced descent, and Hog 3 crashed on Lun’s surface. Despite severe damage, including obliterated landing legs, a wrecked solar panel, and a broken footage arm lying next to the lander, communication systems remarkably remained functional. Using the arm camera, scientists observed the devastated state of Hog 3, with vital systems such as the radar, antennas, and flight computer miraculously intact.

Flight data from Hog 3 showed that its landing detectors had mistakenly issued an engine cutoff command at 1,500 meters, but one of the engines failed to receive this command and continued firing. This anomaly prompted extensive investigation, leading scientists to propose various theories, including interference from solar radiation or damage from fast-moving space debris. However, no definitive cause was determined. The lander eventually powered down as its damaged solar panels could no longer sustain operations.