The Viking

Captured here in this artists rendering is a Viking lander just before it touched down on the Martian surface. The parachute and upper aeroshell can be seen in the upper left corner of the image. At this stage of the descent, the lander's terminal descent propulsion system (three retro-engines) had slowed the craft down so that velocity at landing was about of 2 mps (7 mph). Seconds after the lander reached the surface, it began transmitting images back to the orbiter for relay to Earth. (Image on upper right corner)                                                                                                               

       When it came back home it brought pictures of Mars' volcanoes, lava plains, canyons, cratered spots, wind-formed objects, and evidence of surface water. The only water they found was frozen. It was found in the Martian north polar ice caps. The elevations were huge! Some elevations of volcanoes can be up to 31 miles thick. The biggest volcano is called Olympus. The two Vikings,Viking1,and Viking 2 were unmanned spacecrafts. Their mission was to look for any signs of life, to obtain high resolution images of the Martian surface, characterize the structure and composition of the atmosphere and surface. The first Viking was launched on August 20, 1975 and landed on Mars on June 19, 1976.  In addition to all these landmasses, Mars has cyclones and anticyclones.

The Viking was an example of  the search for any other life in outer space. Today we still travel to Mars on the quest to know more! Read more about the Mars Rover Spirit to discover the present finding on Mars.

        The Viking landers carried 11 instruments. They were , a pair of slow-scan cameras, a seismometer, an Upper-Atmosphere Mass Spectrometer, a Retarding Potential Analyzer, a Biology Instrument, a Gas Chromatograph /Mass Spectrometer (GCMS), an X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometer, a Meteorology Instrument, Accelerometers, a Stagnation Pressure Instrument, and a Recovery Temperature Instrument. There is even more! A Surface Sampler Boom, and last of all the lander radios.

                               For more information look for a book about the Viking in your local  library. 

 Go to this website for an excellent 3D image of the Viking: http://marsproject.com/viking.htm