Physical properties of the surface materials at the Viking landing sites on Mars

Physical properties of the surface materials at the Viking landing sites on Mars Download PDF EPUB FB2

This report summarizes the results of the Physical Properties Investigation of the Viking '75 Project, activities of the surface samplers, and relevant results from other investigations. The two Viking Landers operated for nearly four martian years after landing on July 20 (Lander 1) and Sept.

3 (Lander 2), ; Lander 1 acquired its last pictures on or about Nov. 5, Martian surface materials viewed by the two Viking landers (VL‐1 and VL‐2) range from fine‐grained nearly cohesionless soils to rocks. Footpad 2 of VL‐1, which landed at m/s, penetrated cm into very fine grained dunelike drift material; footpad 3 rests on a rocky soil which it penetrated ≈ by: Important problems that confront future scientific exploration of Mars include the physical properties of Martian surface materials and the geologic processes that formed the materials.

The design of landing spacecraft, roving vehicles, and sampling devices and the selection of landing sites, vehicle traverses, and sample sites will be, in part, guided by the physical properties of the materials. (Viking Landers, Mars Pathfinder, MERs). Knowledge of these surface properties helps to constrain the origin of the surface materials and the processes that have affected them.

In addition, information regarding physical and mechanical properties is useful in planning future spacecraft explora-tion of the surface of Mars. accurately characterize the physical properties of surface materials present at the MER landing sites (e.g., bedforms, particle size distributions, abundance of rock fragments) and explore what these properties imply regarding recent pro-cesses that have affected the surface.

Hank Moore and John Physical properties of the surface materials at the Viking landing sites on Mars book describe the surface materials, rock populations, and other characteristics of each of the Viking landing sites and present maps for each.

Lander 1 Surface Material Map [ MBytes] Lander 2 Surface Material Map [ MBytes] Rock files. Surface photometric properties and albedo changes in the central equatorial region of Mars Viking Lander images of the surfaces at both landing sites show that smooth drift area's brightnesses.

Color and brightness changes have occurred at both Viking Landing sites during the first two Mars years of the Lander mission. The contrast between adjacent soil units decreased, and the surface ge.

This paper has collected data on different properties of Martian soils, which can be of interest to developers of instruments and spacecraft for the exploration of this planet. These data are dispersed in numerous publications of different years, which are not always available; therefore, this collection will facilitate their search and study.

It has been shown that, in the first approximation. - THE VIKING LANDING SITES - [] Landing sites for the Viking landers were chosen before launch, but close inspection from orbit showed them to be much too rugged and dangerous to risk landing Orbiter 1 searched for almost 3 weeks before finding a new, more suitable landing site about km west-northwest of the original site, but still within Chryse Planitia.

Data collected by two Viking landers are analyzed. Attention is given to the characteristics of the surface inferred from Lander imaging and meteorology data, physical and magnetic properties experiments, and both inorganic and organic analyses of Martian samples.

Viking Lander 1 touched down on Chryse Planitia on J and continued to operate for sols, until Novem. Understanding the physical properties as well as the potential for organic material in the Martian near-surface environment can give us a glimpse into the history of the site with regards to water, soil formation processes, as well as the conditions necessary for life.

This work is done to support the interpretation of data from the Phoenix Mars Lander as well as other past and future landed. Although not the prime focus of the InSight mission, the near-surface geology and physical properties investigations provide critical information for both placing the instruments (seismometer and heat flow probe with mole) on the surface and for understanding the nature of the shallow subsurface and its effect on recorded seismic waves.

Two color cameras on the lander will. Handbook of the Physical Properties of the Planet Mars. C.M. Muchaux. NASA SP Images Of Mars The Viking Extended Mission. Micheal H. Carr and Nancy Evans. March NASA SP Physical Properties of the Surface Materials at the Viking Landing Sites on Mars.

H.J. Moore, R.E. Hutton, G.D. Glow, and C.R. Spitzer. The study of surface characteristics (or surface properties and processes) is a broad category of Mars science that examines the nature of the materials making up the Martian study evolved from telescopic and remote-sensing techniques developed by astronomers to study planetary surfaces.

When JSC-Mars-1 was developed, the knowledge of the physical characteristics of the martian surface was limited primarily to orbital/remote observations and those made by the Viking landers. At both Viking landing sites (VL-1 and VL-2), the regolith was classified as a fine-grained, cohesionless to rocky soil that contained small duricrust.

This material was developed to approximate spectral averages of Mars and used limited observational data from the Viking landing sites (VL-1 and VL-2), rather than a mineralogical analysis.

JSC-Mars-1 has been previously characterized in terms of its mineralogical and chemical composition, spectral properties, grain size, and density (Allen et. The Mars Pathfinder mission was designed to address a number of specific goals in the study of Martian soil and dust.

These included: determination of the mineralogy and chemical composition of the fines; characterization of varia-tions in soils and dust around the landing site and between this landing site, the Viking landing sites, and other. Chemical composition. Table 1 provides the major element composition of JMSS-1 compared with MMS, JSC Mars-1, and descriptions of Martian soil from the Viking, Pathfinder, Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity landing sites.

The test result for JMSS-1 is an average of three samples. Mineralogy. From the X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy and energy. Sojourner, the Mars Pathfinder rover, discovered pebbles on the surface and in rocks that may be sedimentary-not volcanic-in origin.

Surface pebbles may have been rounded by Ares flood waters or liberated by weathering of sedimentary rocks called conglomerates.

Conglomerates imply that water existed elsewhere and earlier than the Ares flood. Most soil-like deposits are similar to moderately. The Viking program consisted of a pair of American space probes sent to Mars, Viking 1 and Viking 2. Each spacecraft was composed of two main parts: an orbiter designed to photograph the surface of Mars from orbit, and a lander designed to study the planet from the surface.

The orbiters also served as communication relays for the landers once they touched down. The committee categorized the hazards on Mars by their sources or causes.

It has specifically defined physical hazards on Mars separately from the chemical and biological hazards, because physical hazards can threaten crew safety by physically interacting with humans or critical equipment, resulting, for example, in impact, abrasion, tip-over (due to an unstable Martian surface), or irradiation.

tan’s organic and water-ice rich surface materials at multiple sites [2,3]. provide evidence for deducing the physical properties of the regolith, much like the investigations by Viking terials at the Viking landing sites on Mars.

[14] Yu X. surface via a combination of lander and rover imaging and other in situ elemental and meteorological measurements [e.g., Smith et al., b; Golombek et al., ]. [4] The next mission to the surface of Mars is the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission, which will land two identical rovers at separate landing sites on Mars in early Perchlorate (ClO 4 −) has been directly detected at two landing sites on Mars at concentrations between and 1% (Hecht et al., ;Navarro-Gonzalez et al., ) suggesting that ClO 4.

for duricrust material at the Viking and Pathfinder landing sites and from Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) images [Malin et al., ]. Atmospheric dust [8] A number of studies have investigated the Martian atmospheric dust in thermal infrared wavelengths using both the Mariner 9 Infrared Interferometric Spectrometer.

Viking 1 was launched on Aug and arrived at Mars on J The first month of orbit was devoted to imaging the surface to find appropriate landing sites for the Viking Landers. On J Viking Lander 1 separated from the Orbiter and touched down at Chryse Planitia. Viking 2, the second mission to Mars, lands on the planet and begins transmitting pictures and soil analyses.

The Viking mission went to Mars to look for signs of life, to study the soil and. Studied the physical properties of Martian surface materials using Viking lander, Viking Orbiter thermal, Earth-based radar, and Viking Orbiter imaging data.

Contributed to the Mars Patfinder and other Mars programs by furnishing estimates of the physical properties of the surface materials of Mars and data on rocks at the Viking landing sites. Mars Odyssey safely entered Mars orbit in October and started mapping other properties, including the chemical composition of the surface, the distribution of near-surface ice, and the physical properties of near-surface materials.

Neutron measurements suggested that the polar regions above latitude 60° contain huge subsurface reservoirs of water ice. Physical Properties of the Martian Surface from the Viking 1 Lander: Preliminary Results By RICHARD W.

SHORTHILL, ROBERT E. HUTTON, HENRY J. MOORE II, RONALD F. SCOTT, CARY R. SPITZER Science 27 Aug Full Access Restricted Access.The martian surface is full of obstacles--massive impact craters, cliffs, cracks and jagged boulders.

Even the toughest airbag can be punctured if it hits a bad rock. Unpredictable winds can also stir up further complications.

(Explore the landing sites for Spirt and Opportunity) No matter how hard it is, getting to Mars is just the beginning.The Viking 2 Lander operated on the surface for Mars days and was turned off on Ap when its batteries failed.

The total cost of the Viking project was roughly one billion dollars. For a detailed description of the Viking mission and experiments, see "Scientific Results of the Viking Project," J.

Geophys. Res., v. 82, n. 28,