Viking’s false hope
In 1976 theworldsawNASA’sambitiousViking
missionarriveatMars.Thismissionconsistedof
twoidenticalspacecraft– eachconsistingofan
orbiteranda lander– performinga comprehensive
studyofMarsbothfrominorbitandonthesurface.
Viking1 and 2 weremasterfullyplacedintoorbit
andbecamethefirstlanderstosuccessfullytouch
groundandreturndata.Thisincrediblefeatallowed
astrobiologiststoruntheexperimentstheyhad
onboardthelander.Withmuchexcitementthe
astrobiologistswaitedtoseewhatelusivemicrobial
lifetheremaybeonMars...nothing.AfterwardschiefprojectscientistGeraldSoffen
saidtheresultsfromthebiologytestswere
“inconclusive”,but“yieldedsomecluestothe
chemistryofthesurface”.Thismadeforunfortunate
newsasthiswasthefirsttimescientistshad
searchedforlifeonanotherplanet.However,itdid
allowscientistsandengineerstoputtheirown
methodsundera microscopeandref lectoniftheir
experimentswereuptothejob.ThereforeViking
hadlong-lastingimplicationsonfuturemissionsand
ourunderstandingofMarsasmoremissionscame
andwent.Shattering ancient perceptions
Aseludedtoearlier,therewerelotsoftheories
aboutMarsduringthelate-19thcentury.Schiaparelli
announcedthathehadspottedcanali– meaning
‘canals’inEnglish– aroundtheequatorialregionsof
Mars,andmanyotherastronomersbackedhimup
andevendrewmapsofMarsillustratingspiderweb-
likestructuresonthesurface.
However,themaindiscoveryaboutMarsbyany
spaceprobethathaseitherorbitedorlandedonthe
planetisthattherearenocanalsoff lowingwater.
Onceupona timetherewas,butthese‘canals’are
actuallytheremnantsofstreambeds,whichhave
nowbeenimagedup-closebyNASA’srevolutionary
explorationrovers.InthecaseofNASA’sCuriosity
rover,itwasabletophotographanancient
streambedwhichwasgiventhename‘Hottah’after
Canada'sNorthwestTerritories.“Viking 1 and2 were masterfullyplacedinto orbit
and becamethe firstlanderstosuccessfully touch
groundand returndata”
Viking2 landedonthefield
ofredrocksintheUtopia
PlainofMarsThesize
androunded
shapeof
thegravel
arestrong
indications
thatthisisan
ancientstream© NASA/JPL
© NASA/JPL-CaltechThe red planet
statistics
15
EARTH
YEARS
100x thinner
How long NASA's Opportunity
rover lasted on MarsMartian atmosphere compared
to Earth atmosphereThe time taken for a lander to get
fromthetopofMars'atmosphere
tothesurface.How far NASA's Curiosity rover has
travelledatthetimeofwriting.Number of successful and failed
missions to Mars by NASA7 minutes
(^21) km
95%
of Mars' atmosphere is
carbon dioxide
6
20
Successful
Fail e d
2.5x2.5x
more radiation experienced at
Mars than on the International
Space Station.
Mars