Reading the lunar soil
The sampler tests indicated that lunar soil had a consistency similar to wet sand. The measured bearing strength was about 10 pounds per square inch (0.7 kilograms per square centimetre, or 98 kilopascals).
That result mattered for human exploration. Based on the surface-sampling tests, scientists concluded that the lunar surface was solid enough to hold the weight of an Apollo Lunar Module. My mission therefore provided important engineering evidence for the Apollo programme.
Why this mattered
My measurements did not answer every question about the Moon, but they supplied direct evidence about the ground at my landing site. The findings helped demonstrate that a lunar landing surface could bear the load of an Apollo Lunar Module.
Mission facts on this page are drawn from the supplied NASA mission record and Asif A. Siddiqi, Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration, 1958–2016 (NASA History Program Office, 2018). Surveyor 3 · NASA / Jet Propulsion Laboratory mission.