Viking 1 & 2

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Because of this new evidence collected by Mars 5 and Mariner 9, new questions about possible life on Mars were being raised. If Mars at one time had flowing water, this might have allowed some type of Martian life to evolve. And if there was ever life on Mars, there may still be. And so the Viking probes were sent to Mars with two main objectives: to completely map out Mars' surface, and to test for possible life on Mars. But, in order to carry out this last objective, the probe must actually land on the surface and analyze samples of the soil.

These probes were being planned even before Mariner 9 was launched. It was decided that there would be two probes, each probe consisting of an orbiter and a lander. First, the orbiter-lander pair would travel to Mars and search for a suitable landing place. Then, once the proper site had been found, the lander would descend to the Martian surface and start doing tests on samples of soil and rock. Meanwhile, the orbiter would relay the lander's data back to Earth while systematically mapping out the entire surface of Mars.

These probes would be known as the Viking probes, and were much more sophisticated than the previous Mars probes. Both the lander and the orbiter would have extensive instrumentation. The orbiter's instrumentation would include:

• Two identical high resolution cameras
• An IR spectrometer
• An IR radiometer
• Special radio equipment to measure: Mars' gravity field (gravity changes slightly in different parts of Mars, due to large geological features), the atmosphere, and the topography of the planet

The lander's instrumentation would include:

• A gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer to be used to detect any organic compounds
• An X -ray fluorescence analytical device
• A four component biological experiment module
• A seismometer and meteorological instrumentation.

Viking 1 landed at Chryse Planitia (22.5N, 28.8W) on June 20. Viking 2 landed at Utopia Planitia(44N, 226W) on the third of September. Although the gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer showed that the Martian soil contained no organic molecules, the Viking probes did detect and measure many different properties of Mars. Detailed reports were sent back of:

• The local weather patterns
• Atmosphere composition
• Amount of dust in the air
• Soil, rock, and mineral composition
• Thermal properties
• Magnetic properties
• A detailed, complete map of the Martian surface. Even today, the Viking images are what is usually used to depict different parts of the surface of Mars.

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