N/\S/\

National Aeronautics ar1d

Space AdministratKJn

INFORMATION SHEET Prepared by

FGM 77-1
FGM/Office of Public Affairs
NASA Headquarters
Washington,D.C. 20546

A decade of planning and work came to fruition in 1976

with the landing of a robot spacecraft on Mars to conduct a

detailed scientific investigation of the planet, including

the search for life. After an II-month, haIf-a-biIIion-mile

America's Viking 1 made its historic touchdown on
a rocky, boulder-strewn Martian plain called Chryse on July

20 at 7:53:17 a.m. EDT--just 17 seconds later than flight

engineers had predicted

Within minutes after landing, two specially designed

cameras on the bug-shaped craft began taking the world's

first closeup pictures of the alien land. A miniature

weather station aboard Viking monitored the thin Martian

Other instruments noted magnetism, radiation--all

the data scientists sought. Then eight days. after landing,

a slender 10-foot arm unrolled from the 780-ki1ogram (1,300-

spacecraft and its clawlike hand ripped into the

Martian dirt. Small amounts of soil were dropped into three

3/77
air.
pound)
journey,
 2

devices within the spacecraft's miniaturized biology labora-

These instruments were designed to recognize the form

of life most common on Earth--microbes--on the assumption

that these would be most cornmon on Mars too.

The data that came back from the "life" experiments

both delighted and puzzled scientists. The data indicated
the presence of compounds which were conceivably of biolo-

gical origin, but the organic analysis data did not support

that conclusion. The spacecraft's gas chromatograph-mass

spectrometer instrument showed no evidence of organic mole-

cules--the building blocks of life (as we know it on Earth)

How could there be any Earth-like form of life without

organic compounds? Scientists do not know. It could be

that there is no life on Mars, but that the planet's chemistry

is unlike anything experienced before

A chance to sample a different area of Mars came on

3, when a sister ship, Viking 2, touched down at Utopia

about 1,600 km (1,000 mi. nearer to Mars' polar cap than

There is more moisture there, but the biology re-

sults were about the same as Viking l's:

tory.
Chryse.
puzzling.
Sept.
 3

In mid-November, transmissions between Earth and the

Viking landers and orbiters was suspended. The motions of
the planets had reached a point where the Sun was between

Mars and Earth, an alignment known as solar conjunction that

produces a blackout of Viking-to-Earth communications. This

marked the end of the primary missions of Vikings 1 and 2,

and the beginning of the "extended missions" that will permit

scientific observations through an entire Martian year of

25 months. A return to full post-conjunction operations
of the spacecraft began in mid-December. Experiments
planned include taking more photographs of the Martian sur-

monitoring for seismic events, observing the planet's

daily and seasonable weather changes, and acquiring more

soil samples for biology, organic and inorganic chemistry

In February, Viking 1 orbiter cameras are expected

to take the most detailed pictures yet of Mars' tiny moon

Phobos from a distance of 30 miles.

Science SUITlInary. On the basis of the Viking reports

the following is a reasonable assessment of the planet:

There is extensive evidence of volcanism, fluvial

and aeolian erosion, and deposition over the entire

The number of craters on the various plains

is about a tenth as frequent as on the Moon.

.
tests.
surface.
face,
 4

Despite the antiquity of the surface, the preser-

vation of the small craters suggests that wind ero-

sion has been very slow.

The floor of the canyon Vallis Marinaris is signi-

ficantly younger, suggesting contemporary processes.

The morphology of martian crater ejecta is indica-

tive of surface flow rather than ballistic deposi-

tion as on the Moon and Mercury

The northern plains is a vast area of polygonal

patterns resembling the "patterned ground" of the

arctic regions. At higher latitudes, this is muted

by a soft mantling.

The rocks in the immediate vicinity of Viking 1

lander are numerous and exhibit a great variety of

color, texture, and size, all covered by a

layer of fine red dust.

The atmosphere is optically thick, with suspended

particles giving the sky a pink color.

The atmosphere is well mixed.

..
form,
 5

Nitrogen and argon and their isotopes have been

measured in the atmosphere. The isotopic ratios

are different from those on Earth, implying a dif-

ferent atmospheric history and also a significantly

denser initial Mars atmosphere

Atmospheric water vapor varies both with time of

day and location. The summer northern polar regions

have high water concentration in the atmosphere.

Low thermal measurements of the south polar regions

suggest a dynamic condensation of volatiles.

The climate at the landing site is benign and

repetitive during the early summer.

Elemental analysis of the sample at the landing

site suggests a mixed sample of hydrated minerals

high in iron, and basaltic in nature.

A large (5 to 10 percent) fraction of magnetic

material resides in the surface.

.
 6

No complex organic compounds have been detected

on Mars in the two samples analyzed. The detec-

tion limits are in the region of 10 to 100 parts

per billion

The biology experiment is indeterminate but has

yielded some clues to the chemistry of the surface

.
 7

VIKING SCIENCE SUMMARY -1.

ORBITER

8EXTREMELY VARIED SURFACE -ENORMOUS VOLCANOS, CANYONS

CRA TERED AND SMOOTH AREAS

.CONSIDERABLE EVIDENCE OF EARLIER HISTORY OF RUNNING

WATER ON SURFACE.

.WI DE SPREAD EVIDENCE OF SUBSURFACE PERMAFROST AND POLAR

H2O ICE, SEASONALLY COVERED ~TH CO2 FROST.

.MUCH WIND EROSION EVIDENT IN MANY REGIONS

eA TMOSPHERI C WATER VAPOR MAPPED -VARI ES ACCORDING TO

SEASON, TOPOGRAPHY, TEMPERATURE. VERY DRY IN GENERAL,

(0 to 100 MICRONSPRECIPITABLE).

.ATMOSPHERIC TEMPERATURE MAPPED -VARJES IN LANDING AREAS

(OOto -100°C) ON DAY, NIGHT AND SEASONALCYCLE.

ENTRY

.IONOSPHERE -DOMINATED BY OXYGEN. SOME CO2"

.UPPER ATMOSPHERE-DOMINATED BY CO2- SOMEN2' AR, 0,

02 ANDCO.

.SURFACE PRESSURE AT LANDER A S1 TE DEDUCED TO BE ABOUT

7.3 rob.

I.
II.
 8

VIKING SCI ENCE SUMMARY -2.

LANDER

.SURFACE -LANDER 1 -GENTLY ROLLING TERRAIN

LANDER 2 -FLAT

.SURFACE PROPERTIES -ROCKY, WITH "DUST'! DEPOSITS, FINE

GRAINED -REDDISH IN COLOR, STRONGER AND SO~~AT DENSER

THAN LUNAR

8WINDEROSIONEVIDENT -ATMOSPHERIC "DUST" GIVES PINKISH

CAST TO SKY.

8WINDS GENTLE (9~l/sec) IN VIKING SEASON. DIRECTION VARYS

WITH TIME OF DAY AND SEASON. WI LL INCREASE IN WINTER

.TEMPERATURE AT LANDING SITES GENERALLY BELOW FREEZING

(AROUND 00 to -8SoC).

.PRESSURE 6-8 mb, +

VARIES SEASONALLY-1-2 mb.

(95%). SOME°2' N2' Ar, AND

TRACE OF ~RYPTON, XENON. NEON. N2 Bl0LOGICALLY IMPORTANT.

-SOIL COMPOSEDPRIMARILY OF Fe, Si, Ca, 5, AI. OTHER

IMPORTANT ELEMENTS FOUND (Ti, Rb, Sri ELEMENT

RATIOS CALCULATED. SURFACEAPPEARS OXIDIZED

etc.).
II.
 9

VIKING SCIENCE SUMMARY -3.

-ORGANIC MATTER HOT FOUND AT PARTS PER BILLION LEVEL.

-SOIL VERY REACTIVE WHEN HUMIDIFIED OR WET -HIGHLY

OXIDIZED AND OXIDATIVE. UNLIKE TERRESTRIAL SOILS

REACTIVITY PRODUCES MOLECULES SIMILAR TO BIOLOGICAL

REACTION PRODUCTS

.DIFFICULT TO DISTINGUISH PRESENCEOR ABSENCE OF LIFE

FORMS IN SOIL BECAUSE OF ABOVE.

-SURFACE CHEMl STRY SUBJECT OF INTENSIVE STUDY ON EARTH

TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL SIGNAL,

IF POSSIBLE.

8LIFE QUESTION REMAINS OPEN

.ONE PROBABLE LARGE SEI SMI C EVENT DETECTED IN NO~~ER

I"". DATA RETURN CONTINUES IN EXTENDED MISSION.

EXTREMELY PRODUCTIVE DATA FLOW FROM VIKING.

1976.
 10
f/)Q
H~U ~ '5 .
H ~ f/)E-40 Z;JI HQ~
~ '"' 0
0 ~HO . ~OEotU ~Z>
C/1
H
~ ~
E-4. :I:IDOOt'"lf/)
~H t ~
In
~H
U~ U~H
~ E'-I
~
~
C/1
~
~
0
ZZ
0::> ~~OO
~::> Qr..o.~
~H In
t.3~H
~~(/]
U U~f/)HID~:J: :J~(/] ~ :JZ
~ ~ zu . 0
~Q~t:J~
Ck:QU Eot~
.~(/]
CJ ~ OH~~ >- ~ ~ ~~Eotr..~~
~~ rzJ~
H
~ ~HZHCX:
>E-I..x:U1Q ~ 1
>Q
H I
:>0
H I
~~
>~
HQ

~~~~~
U:JE-on.~
.H(/]U)~:J
~ ~ H.t<.-'~
E-IUCX::I:Eoi
I
~ ~~
~H:r:
E-tE-t EotH:I:~ Ht:JEot
0
~
Po
-
re
HHOEoi:I:
U1Q
OZ~~H
~HOrn~
Z~ ~
H
..J

~H6
~~H
~a.~

~U)~
c.JQH
~o.~

H(/]Eoto.t:J~Eot(/]
(/]Z.x~>Cz3
OO~OH:I:(/]O
o.U~UEotUH~

H
Q
~ rz.
C-' 0
.~ C/] Z Z 0
E-I HO~Q ~ H H
~ .
~U)H~ ;:, P
- ~ >~~U) Z
H
Z
H
~
H
>~
~.:s:0~
~8
rz1 ~ H H~
NC/1H
~ ~ ~ 66
~
Z
H
~
NO
OU 10:
~
U
0
U (.) HH
~ ~ @~
Q
)4
~ ~
H
0
U

N
~
Q ~~
0- ~ 0
N~ . ~ ~~ct:
§ ~ ~U ~ O~~
§~
0 § ~ t/1E-t
H C/)C/) u~ H~ ::>~
o~ ~t/1
~H HH
S~~
~ ~HH ~..:1
17]~
.t~~
"a: a: g~ O~
Zt/J
~~
Zt/)
~~
ct:u
~ ~
~
H
:I:
~
H
0
~

>
H .
> H
E-4
~
Z ~ ~~~~~
E-4 0 ~ ~
~
~e..~
~
e..~
~ 0
~ H U Z
H ~:I:OUtl1~tI1e..
~ ~ ~
~ ~ e
~H
tI1
~ ~ ~tI1H
~E-ttl1He..OH~
~~~::J:~
a.OOe..~ 0.
I a: [I) IOZ ~
~ ~ ~~~Z~O tI1
~ Z O~~E-4~
H
Q
~
a:>~H[I)H
~>
N[I)~O
E-4
I;:>
~::> ~ :I:
OZe..U~
UO ~ ~-

~~
E-4'
&1
~
~ ~~ ~
~
~
:> 0 ~Z ~ tI1
~
E-4 ~~
~>
a:. a:Z>
F,-~~F,-OH
~
H
H
E-4
U I
O~
NZO
I 0 >
H~
a: ~ ~~
o~
H~tI1a:~tI1HE-I
~E-I>HOZHe..H
~ ~ CJ; H[I)[I)
~~~f&4U
eE-4
N
~HH~e..H~Utl1
Otl1E-1~U~tzJ~Z
H ~ra1~f&4~O
~ ~ ~~
Zt/)
OOU:I:H~:I:~;.J
~o.~Uo.a.Ua:tI1
--
tI) a:~OOI-)U
z
0
~ N ~ ~ H
0 tI1
r&1 E-tE-t ~ ro1 ~ :>
~ U ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~z~ Po u
z
~
r...~E-t
r...~.t
~t/]O ~ ~t/) ~ 0
u
 11
tI)
~ z a; I
0
~ ~ O~'J)
H 0
:>
UE04
I
E-I
~Oo. Z~
Z
0 ~
C-' ~~tI)
Ht:>
H
U HCI) p~~ ~~ ~
a:
~Z Uti)
a: ~ :J ZOf-l
'P EoIO: U~~
H~Z
tlo
>
t.1 Eot r./) ~~~
H
Z
~~ H
rz]~
~>I H Eot
~
~ 0>
Q~~HE-4
H~
~~ Q
0<
~tI) !
H~
H
CO
t:>H
ZE040
~ H 'E-t EotEot~
:I:~~
~ 1E-4~ ~~ u"'" tI) S~~
~~~
o:~c.
~~tI)
H~~
~Z~
~~~~~
~=>g~~
Q-~Z~ .-I
. N
. .
rr)
~
Z
H
Eo4 §
~
~t/]
z z
~ $ 0 0
~
~
H H H
H ~ ~ fot
foI
tI)
0
U
~
~ ~
~
~ ~~
'0 ~ ~
H
&3U1 ~ ~
C/1
~
~ ora ~ ~ ~~
0 ~
~ ~~ ~
0 ~ ~ ~~~
H H ~ 0
S ~6'
0.
II:! t)~
~~ ~
~ ~
~ CJO
:r:Z
I :x:
N ~~
U1H
~~ Zt/) POi
. ('II
. . ~
~ 10 ~
H
~ s NO;I; .
H ~ HLt'!M(.?
H ~ ~ z
> ~ H~~Z 1-1
0
H
~ ~~O
~ ~.
u
~o
~ ~ .~
t/)~U~ iu S
H
~
2:
~ root Z
1-1
~ H
a:>
~~ ~
rz1 ~ ~ U)
~
.'J 00 ~
~ B
z ~ ~~
~ Zf:i
:> .1 ~ E-4 H
H
~
U
~ ~8
N
~ ~
0
~
~ ~~
0
p.
~
i~
~Z
~~ CJ uo
~~
C/1~ ~
t/)
.
~
. .
N ('f')
.
~
~ N
0 M
~ E-tE-t ~
~ t) ~ ~
~z~ 0. ~
rz.~E-t a.
rz.~.t
~ ~(/)Q ~ ~
tf]