25 Years Ago: Vikings on Mars
Explanation:
On
July 20, 1976, NASA's Viking 1 lander become the first spacecraft
to land on Mars,
followed weeks later by its twin robot
explorer, the Viking 2 lander.
Operating on
the Martian surface
into the early 1980s,
the
Vikings took thousands of pictures,
conducted
sophisticated chemical
searches for life,
and studied the
martian weather
and geology.
In the dramatically detailed image above, a field of rocks and boulders
is viewed from the Viking 1 landing sight on Chryse Planitia
(the Plain of Chryse).
Viking 1's dusty foot pad is just visible at the lower right.
The image was created
by combining high resolution black and white images
with lower resolution color images of the same area.
NASA is continuing its
well
chronicled martian exploration program as
the
Mars Odyssey
spacecraft is scheduled to arrive
at the
mysterious Red Planet on October 24th.
What's Mars
like today?
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
