Space Project
By: Emma Hubert 1st period
Viking Space Mission
What & When?
The Viking space mission was the first to land on mars safely and return good pictures.
The Viking space mission included two space crafts but only one mission. The day of August 20, 1975 the first Viking was launched, 2 weeks after the second Viking was launched.
The Space Crafts
There where two of the exact same spec crafts, they each had an orbiter and a lander. Viking orbiter one continued for four years and 1,489 orbits which ended its mission on August 7, 1980, and Viking orbiter two ended its journey on July 25, 1978. Both of the landers where powered by radioisotope thermoelectric generators.
Where Did They Land?
The two space crafts did not land on the same place on Mars, but that was intentionally planned. Viking 1 landed on the western slope Chryse Planitia. Viking two landed landed on Utopia Planitia.
What was the purpose?
They main purpose was to conduct experiment to see if there was life form on Mars. What they also wanted to do is collect photos and other science data from the Martian surface.
The experiments
They conducted three experiments. The experiments did show some unexpected chemical activity in the Martian soil. Although they did not find proof of living microorganisms in the soil close to the lans sites.
Plans/Discoveries
The plan was to stay on Mars 90 days t after arrival. The scientist believed that Mars was self sterilizing (That means they believed that Mars cleans its self from bacteria and germs).
The Ending
The last data sent from Viking one to earth was on November 11, 1982. The last data sent from Viking two to earth was on April 11, 1980.
Bibliography
- Landau, Elizabeth. "What We've Done on Mars, and What's next." CNN. Cable News Network, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.
- "Mars Mobile." Mars Mobile. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.
- Mars Viking Mission. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.
- "NASA’s Marks 30th Anniversary of Mars Viking Mission." NASA's Marks 30th Anniversary of
- "Viking Project Information." Viking Project Information. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.
- "Viking Spacecraft." Viking 1 & 2 Spacecraft. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.
- "50 Years of Robotic Planetary Exploration: Cassie Conley (Planetary Protection Officer at NASA Headquarters)." Solar System Exploration. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2015