Photomosaic of Viking 2's Prime Landing Site..., June 28, 1976

Inscription

top left printed in black ink: NASA National Aeronautics and / Space Administration; top right: Headquarters / Washington, D.C.; on verso, top right stamped in purple ink perpendicular: NASA / National / Aeronautics and / Space / Administration; center left printed in purple ink perpendicular: PHOTO CREDIT-- NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration; center left printed in black ink: RRT 56561; center printed in purple ink perpendicular: Photomosaic of Viking 2's prime landing site in the Cydonia / region of Mars was made from pictures taken June 28 by Viking 1 / from an average range of 2050 kilometers (1270 miles). Intent / was to obtain an early look at the pre-selected landing sight [sic] / for the second spacecraft and also to provide a basis for com- / parison with possible Viking 1 landing sites. The plains in this area / are crossed by numerous intersecting linear depressions. Origin / of these crack-like features in [sic] unknown. They may have been / caused by the cooling lava that formed the plains. If these / are cooling cracks, however, they exceed the scale of comparable / features on Earth. Finely textured ejecta blankets--rocks thrown / from impact craters--surround many of the fresh craters in the / region. The patterns of ejecta is quite different from that seen / on the moon and Mercury and is more suggestive of flow of material / across the surface rather than ballistic transport. One possible / mechanism is transport by a base surge, which is common for large / nuclear explosions and some explosive volcanic events. The five / large craters in this mosaic are (clockwise from bottom left) / part of the rim of Arandas, Hope, Eagle, Freedom and Faith.; center right NASA copyright; center right: FOR RELEASE: File: June 30, 1976 / PHOTO NO. 76-II-498 / Viking 1-24 / P-16907 (P9 Mosaic)

Provenance

Mary and Dan Solomon, Monarch Beach, CA; gift to NGA, 2018.

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