In Operation Viking, two spaceships were launched, each of which took out one lander. In this chapter is the story of the second spacecraft Viking B
August 21, 1975 was the original launch date. The malfunctions in the twin spacecraft led to the postponement of the launch to August 30. From here the launch was moved to September 1. An antenna malfunction and bad weather caused the launch to be postponed again.
September 9 - Viking B was successfully launched. It is intended to enter orbit around Mars on August 7, 1976 and land on its surface on September 4.
January 26, 1976 - It was reported that biological cell number 1 is not working. Every time you check it, it takes a few days.
July 3 - It turned out that the arm is affected by excess electric charge due to a malfunction.
July 23 - between the two open options for landing the spacecraft B1 and C1, the priority is for B1, Cydonia. C1 is in the equatorial region and relatively safe for landing. Cydonia is further north and more dangerous to land on. The success of Viking A made the Cydonia option possible. In this place the amount of water is 5-10 times greater than at the equator and it is colder. Therefore the chances of finding life here are greater. The safety of C1 stems from the fact that its flatness can be checked by radar waves. This test cannot be done on B1 due to the relative position of Mars to the Earth. This location does not allow the radar waves to reach the northern latitudes of Mars.
Cydonia has another advantage. The colder the landing site is, the more suitable it is for the cold biological incubation experiment. In the event that the landing is carried out in this place, the heating facilities are bled and the soil samples are tested at the same temperature as the surface temperature. The biologists feared that the temperature of the research cells higher than the surface temperature (to protect the delicate equipment in the laboratory) could kill the organisms, if there are any on the Martian soil.
July 27 - correction in the flight path.
August 7 - the spacecraft entered orbit around Mars. The inclination angle is 55 degrees and the coffee duration is 27.6 hours.
August 8 - photographing landing sites. It seems that the ground here is rocky and could endanger the landing.
August 9 - photographing the landing sites. The spacecraft's engine was activated for six seconds and placed it above Cydonia.
On August 11 - the spacecraft continued to photograph the optional landing sites. In total, the spacecraft must photograph three such sites. She must take 96 photographs, most of them focused on the landing sites.
August 13 - Continued filming of the landing sites.
August 17 - In the photographs taken, a sight was discovered that, according to the researchers' definition, is "a new type of landscape that we have not encountered before on the surface of Mars." In the photographs you see long and mysterious strips. They resemble strips of plowed land seen in aerial photographs. Michael Carr, the team member who studied the photographs of the spacecraft said that it is hard to believe that they were created by nature because they are straight and parallel. He noted that many explanations have been put forward, and among other things, it has been suggested that the strips were created by a person.
August 18 - There is a possibility to make the landing on September 3, a day earlier than planned. A decision on this must be made by August 20. If the landing takes place on this date, the maneuver related to the landing on September 4 can be canceled.
August 19 - Viking B will probably land on September 3 in the "Plain of Utopia".
August 22 - it was decided that the landing would take place in Utopia. The considerations that decided the cape were the topography of the place, a safer landing and a greater presence of water, albeit in a solid phase. The landing site is 1,600 km northeast of the Viking A landing site.
August 23 - instructions were sent for the landing.
August 24 - Last instructions were sent for the landing.
August 25 - The spacecraft was instructed to take more pictures of Utopia.
August 29- The spacecraft began a new series of photographs of Utopia. The goal is to find comfortable places to land. Volcanic rocks are scattered in this land. The geologists believed that these rocks were covered with dirt over time and therefore landing here is possible. The humidity there is five times higher than the Viking A landing site.
August 30 - The spacecraft continued to photograph Utopia. It appears to be a desert area covered in sand with 18 meter high sand dunes.
August 31 - the landing date is finally set.
September 2 - for five hours the main systems of the lander were checked and they were found to be normal. The circling cameras and the thermal devices constantly checked whether strong winds were not blowing at the landing site.
September 3 - three hours before the launch, the lander detached from the Mekpet and started on its way towards landing in Utopia. A few seconds later there was a drop in the power supply to the gyroscopes. As a result, contact with the helicopter was lost and it was not clear if the lander's engine had been ignited. It turned out that the constellation lost its optical contact with its reference star - Vega. The capsule changed its original height from the ground of Mars. The powerful antenna was no longer aimed at the Earth. The contact with the country was made through a low power antenna which transmitted only simple bits of information.
September 4 - Viking B landed (according to Pasadena time, the landing control center was on September 3) but the fault has not yet been fixed. According to the weak signals received it was clear that the lander had indeed landed. The first information broadcast to Israel showed that there was a large concentration of water vapor. The researchers took solace in the fact that the first two photographs, the first of one of the lander's legs and the second a panoramic one, were transmitted to the Maqpet and kept there. The hope was that the problem would be fixed and the photos would be broadcast to Israel. There was a 32 second delay in landing.
Six hours after landing, the spacecraft began searching for the star Vega. The intention was to allow the powerful antenna to be adjusted back towards Earth and resume contact with the spacecraft. This search lasted three hours and upon its completion the images were broadcast to Israel 12 hours late than the designated time. If the reorientation of the antenna was unsuccessful, contact with the lander could be resumed using the Viking A compass.
Viking B landed on a crater slope. At least that's how it looks in the photos. If it's not a crater, it's at least a hole in the ground. Its direction was 5-10 degrees west. Contrary to the prediction that the landing site would be covered with sand dunes, it turned out to be rocky. There is a large mass of rocks. The researchers trusted that the soft sand would soften the landing. The uneven horizon line in the second photograph is very reminiscent of the area around the landing site of Viking A. The landing site appears to be a desert area, probably sandy with rocks of various shapes and is relatively flat.
The rocks are more or less the same size. Their height reaches up to one meter. Some of the rocks are rounded, some are angled and others are flat. According to Carl Sagan, the rocks scattered at the landing place give the impression that they originate from a volcano. "It is possible that we are on the ejection plane of a large volcano." He also said, "That rocks with holes in them are remnants of lava."
It turned out that the spacecraft landed at N 0 47.97 - W 0 225.67 and the wind speed varied between 15.5 and 25.6 km/h. The minimum temperature at 04:00 in the morning is 81 degrees below zero and the maximum at 16:00 in the afternoon is 30.5 degrees below zero. The barometric pressure is higher than expected 7.72 millibars.
September 5 - In the new photographs that arrived, there was concern about the fate of the antenna. There was an impression that it was cracked, albeit quite lightly. A careful examination of the photographs showed that what appeared to be a crack was nothing more than a slight crumb of soil that stuck to the antenna. What happened was that one of the landing legs threw sand into the air during landing and one grain stuck to the antenna that was deployed upon landing.
The researchers were sure that one of the lander's legs was standing on a rock instead of on the ground. This could explain the slight tilt of the ground in the photographs. The lander stands at an angle of 10 degrees relative to the ground. The first color photograph taken shows that the ground color is red. The seismometer began transmitting data to Israel and it appears that there is seismic activity on Mars. The rocks at the landing site were studied for signs of earthquakes.
It turned out that all the systems are working properly, contrary to the fear that arose for their fate. There was concern that the spaceship was damaged upon landing and as mentioned there was no contact with it at the time.
September 6- The lander continued to transmit photographs. In one of them you see signs indicating that a stream used to flow just nine meters from the spaceship and it dried up. On the surface of the ground are visible signs of salt and other sediments left after the stream dried up. Later in the day, geological studies were carried out. The goal was to check whether the volcanic activity continues in the present or was part of the geological activity in the past and stopped.
September 8 - It was ensured that the malfunction that happened to Viking A's arm would not happen again since the appropriate lesson was learned and improvements were made to Viking B's arm.
September 11 - The lander was supposed to collect soil samples and was unable to do so because the arm got stuck without being able to move.
September 13 - the Mekapet began its journey around Mars. The inclination angle is 75 degrees.
September 15 - the researchers managed to overcome the fault in the arm and restarted it. From the photographs broadcast after its repair, it became clear that it was an electrical fault that caused the arm to "freeze".
September 16 - the arm collected a soil sample and brought it to the laboratory.
September 17 - The results of the biological experiments showed encouraging signs of the presence of life on Mars. The results are similar to those of Viking A and they indicate that there are life-supporting substances on Mars. If such experiments were conducted on Earth, they would teach about the existence of life.
September 18 - the arm got stuck again and was fixed. An order to collect another sample was postponed to find a new excavation site.
September 19 - a previous soil sample was X-rayed and later a new signal was sent to the lab to dig another sample. The arm collected the sample from a point 2.1 meters from the lander and for this purpose a 17 cm long trench was dug. It is a silt-like soil. In order to increase the search rate and to clarify unclear information provided by Viking A, changes were made to Viking B's experiments. It was decided to carry out an unusual photosynthetic experiment at night, with the aim of disproving the belief that the minerals and chemicals in the Martian soil undergo drastic changes in light to the way life forms absorb sunlight and emit gases such as oxygen and CO2.
If there is microscopic life on Mars they must emit gas both in the dark and in the light. This is because the size, the form of life and their dependence on sunlight are of no importance because they continue to function day and night. Since Viking A did not find signs of the presence of fossils, it was decided to carry out the excavations of Viking B in a different way, to deepen the excavations and conduct analyzes to discover these signs.
September 21 - The researchers debated the problem of how to move a rock that is two meters away from the laboratory. It was hypothesized that the sun's ultraviolet radiation did not reach the ground beneath the rock, so there is a high probability of finding complex molecules of carbon or organic compounds here. It is very possible and possible to move the rock thanks to the gravity of Mars.
September 23 - From the measurements of the Viking B probe, it became clear that the assumption that the poles of Mars are covered with dry ice is incorrect. These measurements showed that the snow cap at the North Pole is mostly frozen water and a small amount of CO2. The amounts of water covering Mars are enormous and in the past they flowed in streams and rivers. It was also found that the atmosphere at the pole contains a large amount of water vapor and the temperature of the ice cap is 73 degrees below zero, a temperature higher than the freezing point of 2 CO.
Other measurements of the Mekapet showed the presence of heavy gases in the atmosphere such as krypton and sanon, proving that in the past huge amounts of water flowed over the surface of Mars. These gases were also discovered from telescopic observations from Earth by astronomer Evan Tobias from the State University of New York. He also found argon and according to his words, the density of the atmosphere in the past was ten times higher than today.
The person in charge of the Martian water mapping team in the Viking program said that he believes that the amount of water on Mars is ten times smaller than on Earth. Since Mars is relatively small, it has the same amount of water relative to Mars. This discovery is another proof that at least in the past there were favorable conditions for the formation of life and if there were at least primitive life forms, they are buried under the ice cap in the North Pole.
September 26 - the excavator arm dug up another sample and brought it into the laboratory. From the data collected so far from the two spacecraft it became clear that there is some form of life on the surface of Mars.
September 30 - It was reported that following the success of the Viking program, NASA is planning additional flights to Mars.
October 1 - it was reported that the GCMS experiment failed because of organic molecules in the soil.
October 6 - from photographs broadcast to Israel it became clear that the second attempt to move the rock was also unsuccessful and it was defined as a stubborn rock.
October 17 - the Mekapet orbit will be repositioned over the landing site of its lander and will allow a new tour of Mekapet A.
October 20 - the chances of finding life on Mars decreased. No organic molecules were found in a soil sample taken from under the rocks.
October 21 and 22 - four attempts were made to collect 0.5 cm grains of gravel and examine them in the X-ray facility and all failed. From the failure they concluded that the wind blew these grains from the digging arm.
October 25 - The lander arm took a soil sample under a small rock by moving the latter. The sample was inserted into the biological cells and started to be tested.
November 7 - Spacecraft activity was stopped in preparation for blocking the connection that begins on November 10 when the sun is between Earth and Mars. The blocking of contact ends in mid-December and the experiments resume in early January 1977.
Viking Phase II
In October, NASA stated that it appears that the two spacecraft will operate for another year and that they are working on another program that will last until October 1977. The explosion of winds on the surface of Mars will be studied, as well as the way in which the winds transport light and dark materials from one side of Mars to the other, a phenomenon that is probably responsible for The "waves of darkening" that were then seen from the earth. As for the hyphens, they will operate for two years. This means that one redmimic year will allow for a thorough investigation of the seasons. Phase B began on December 13 when contact with the spacecraft was renewed.
Viking A
May 25, 1978 - the lander was put into automatic operation.
July 25 - The Mikapet begins to serve as a relay station for the two Mikapets until it ends its role in November 1978.
Viking B
February 7, 1978 - A leak was discovered in the compass reference control motors to save fuel and maintain maximum exposure time of the sunroofs to sunlight. Slowed down the rolling rate of the Mekapet.
July 15 - the lander was put into automatic operation.
July 17 - with the help of the last amount of fuel left in the Mekapet tanks, it was placed in its orbit and began a last observation towards Mars.
July 25 - after 706 laps, the activity of the mikpet was stopped and thus its role ended. Viking A's capsule would serve as a relay station for the two landers until it was decommissioned in November 1978.
