Media Information

 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Planetary Photo Journal Collection
Title:
1st Manned Lunar Landing and 1st Robotic Mars Landing Commemorative Release: Viking 1 Landing Site in Chryse Planitia - Visible Image
Original Caption Released with Image:

(Released 20 July 2002)
The date July 20 marks two major milestones in humanity's grand push to explore the frontier of space. On this date, in 1969, the Apollo 11 lunar module Eagle landed the first men (Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin) on another celestial body, the Moon . In 1976, seven years to the day, the robotic Viking 1 Lander made the first successful landing on the ruddy rock strewn surface of Mars . To commemorate these milestones the THEMIS Team is releasing both an IR (Infra-Red) and Visible image of the Viking 1 landing site. THEMIS is currently imaging landing sites for future robotic missions including the twin Mars Exploration Rovers set to touchdown in January 2004. All of these missions anticipate the day when, hopefully in the not too distant future, astronauts will land on the red planet. So as we reflect on our rich tradition of space exploration let us also dream and plan on a wondrous future exploring the mysterious red planet.

Viking 1 landed on a relatively smooth plain in Chryse Planitia (Plains of Gold), which is a low region of the northern hemisphere of Mars. The reported landing site is 22.48° N, 49.97° W. The landing site is marked with an X in the images. This region of Mars is dominated by plains, wrinkle ridges, and impact craters.

This 4 framelet image is part of a 5 band image sequence. This image primarily contains plains, wrinkle ridges and craters. Some craters have ripples on their floors, which are probably dunes while other craters have some type of deposit on their floors. These deposits are most likely aeolian in nature. In places the wrinkle ridges appear to be buried or mantled with material that may be either volcanic and or fluvial in origin. The lander's view of the surface shows an undulating rocky surface with some finer grained materials present, and distant crater rims and wrinkle ridges.
Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Arizona State University
Produced By:
Arizona State University
Mission:
2001 Mars Odyssey
Spacecraft:
2001 Mars Odyssey
Target Name:
Mars
Is a satellite of:
Sol (our sun)
Instrument:
Thermal Emission Imaging System
Product Size:
1037 samples x 644 lines
Producer ID:
20020720A
facet_who:
Neil A. Armstrong
facet_what:
Sun
facet_what:
Crater
facet_what:
Moon
facet_what:
Mars
facet_what:
Viking
facet_what:
Apollo 11
facet_what:
Viking 1 Lander
facet_what:
2001 Mars Odyssey
facet_what:
Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS)
facet_what:
Mars Exploration Rover (MER)
facet_where:
Mars
facet_where:
Arizona
facet_where:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
facet_when:
1976
facet_when:
1969
facet_when:
January 2004
facet_when:
20 July 2002
facet_when_year:
2002
facet_when_year:
2004
facet_when_year:
1976
facet_when_year:
1969
Image #:
PIA03902
UID:
SPD-PHOTJ-PIA03902
orignial url:

1st Manned Lunar Landing and 1st Robotic Mars Landing Commemorative Release: Viking …