Viking - Defining Mars Exploration

There are too many precedents set by Viking to include in one short article, so in celebration of the Anniversary of the Viking Mars Mission landing on Mars, July 20, 1976, we will focus on a few things about Viking that demonstrate why they were so successful...

Discovery and innovation are always a process... building on earlier discoveries, creations, testing, and accidents too! Viking was no exception. As we innovate more we typically gain efficiency, new more sophisticated tools, more minds examining a topic, and often complex expensive resources to dedicate to solving the problem... But what is fascinating, are the things we do when we have limited resources,.. either time or tools, or both! ...and Viking team members were masters of problem solving in a pinch, here's just one example, in honor of the Viking 1 Anniversary of Landing on Mars, July 20th 1976.

Most people know that one of Viking primary objectives was to search for organics on the surface of Mars. However that is not the same as taking a swab from your backyard or even the nearest extreme environment on earth...

It wasn't just figuring out what to test for, how to design experiments AND instruments to conduct them, and how to interpret results (we are not going there right now), it was also about getting there, and the instruments functioning properly in unknown environments... the ability to forecast and theorize is a practice that one might say was required more then, than now, as we knew such a small fraction of what we now know. And in the case of Mars' atmosphere and surface characteristics, it was (mostly) a blank slate, with some educated assumptions. Therefor Viking team members really were not only discovering the science, but inventing the methods to discover the science, and THAT requires cross disciplinary activities and minds that understand more than a singular topic.

In fact, it was the visionary design of the science for each phase of the primary mission, collecting data that could inform subsequent phases, that made subsequent experiments possible. Each team relied on the success of the earlier teams to execute the Primary objectives. And so science instruments were working away during most of the phases from launch through cruise, orbit insertion, orbit, and EDL Entry Descent and Landing. And it was here that we share just one interesting and defining moment of the Viking mission.

Designing Instruments of Earth for Use on Mars

There are a lot of things you can test on earth such as thresholds for various structural and environmental impacts that you have to prepare for - temperature, radiation, vibration... and Viking testing was nothing short of obsessive about testing, the whole team wanted it to succeed so double redundancy was the norm rather than exception. That requires not only rigor, but creativity, vision, and... there it is again resourcefulness. So of course Viking tested for as many of these as possible, based on the current knowledge base, but that was before there WAS much known about the characteristics of Mars. So they had to prepare for a huge variety of conditions and characteristics and be flexible enough to change plans if the situation dictated. But when they launched Viking 1 and 2 in 1975 there were still many unknowns.

How Misfortune and Communication Across Borders Drives Success

The race to Mars was driven by both politics and passion. But thankfully, science breeds more compassion than politics, and our only competition at the time on the journey to Mars, was the Soviet Union who were in regular communication with Viking Team members and Chief Scientist, Gerald Soffen, Both nations were excited on many levels about being the first to reach Mars, but it was the scientists who communicated and collaborated across borders to share information and theories. And so it was, that the misfortune of a Soviet Mars mission and the information provided to the US by the soviets, that contributed to our success.

Here's what happened (high level)...

The Russians had sent a probe before Viking that reached the planet but did not function properly. There were actually numerous Soviet missions prior to Viking achieved with varying levels of success, and the first surface mission was the Soviets, but it did not survive to execute its science objectives. However, of the other probes they sent with their varied successes and failures, it was a failure that contributed to a later success by Viking. It was theorized by the Soviets, after post mortem that one of their instruments had failed because of high levels of Argon in the Mars atmosphere. It was thought that the Argon had destroyed their instruments' ability to function properly, and that was the theory the Soviet Scientists shared with the Viking team who had a similar Mass Spectrometry instruments on board both the Orbiter and Lander.

Because the radar mass spectrometer ionizes gas and because argon is a noble gas it won't ionize, therefor there was a concern that this might compromise the Viking Lander Mass Spectrometer.

Simple Tools Solve Difficult Problems

So what did they do...? Did that paralyze the team? No!

This was an incredibly resourceful and knowledgeable group of experts with cross disciplinary experience working in a "can do" environment. Not to mention this exceptional team which included budding brilliant and established individuals in diverse fields. So one of their own, Al Nier, an American physicist who pioneered the development of mass spectrometry and who designed miniature mass spectrometers used by the Viking Landers, took out his slide rule and analysed the data from the aeroshell. And 30 minutes after landing and he announced in a Press Conference, that there was less than one percent of Argon in the atmosphere

This example of using the mass spectrometer on the Viking aeroshell, functionally designed for aerobraking and thermal protection during entry, to capture profile data and conduct this specific analysis before initiating the mass spectrometer on the Lander, was just one of many examples of how this team of individuals were not only capable of brilliant design of experiments and instruments, but were also capable of quick decision making based on deep knowledge and personal expertise.

Vikings First Science Discoveries

Within 30 minutes of Landing, they had a reasonable understanding that Argon was not in fact a significant part of the atmosphere, nor would it likely disable one of the critical instruments on the Viking Mars Lander. The Director, Jim Martin, based on this last minute analysis, authorized to go ahead and run Lander Mass Spectrometers.

So the instrument designed to examine the surface of Mars and provide the first data, was assisted by other instruments that performed not only their planned objectives, but these additional ad hoc tasks. It was a miraculous mission in many ways, against the odds, and beyond a doubt, defining Mars Exploration.

And the legacy continues

These Vikings defined how to explore on Mars and inspired students who served on the mission to continue to work in the field and gather more information with more sophisticated tools. Now we know even more about the history of Argon in Mars atmosphere, as a result of a student who served on Viking, and now leads the MAVEN Mission - Bruce Jakosky.

This continuously growing body of knowledge and R&D to get us closer to Mars began earlier:

• Engineering and Mission Design elements used on the Lunar Orbiter Team who became the Viking Project Office,
• Engineering elements from Martin Marietta who developed earlier launch vehicles for military and became a leader in Planetary Exploration in the commercial sector with the Titan IIIE and Viking Lander
• Data and imaging from Mariner missions and with data and earth observation telescopes
• Theories by academics around the globe (see the below COSPAR report from the Viking Archive) whose research begat the Viking science

But it was Viking, who entered Orbit June 19, 1976 and Landed July 20, 1976 that confirmed and refuted earlier theories with new data and high resolution observations from orbit and the surface, for the first time.

Argons Viking Legacy

As a result of MAVEN, it has been discovered that 65 percent of the argon that was ever in the atmosphere has been lost to space. So the Soviets were right that Argon HAD been more prevalent earlier, though it was not the case during the Soviet and Viking Mars era.

Now, MAVEN has determined that solar wind and radiation are responsible for stripping the Martian atmosphere, and transforming Mars.

"We've determined that most of the gas ever present in the Mars atmosphere has been lost to space," said Bruce Jakosky, principal investigator for the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission (MAVEN), University of Colorado in Boulder.

And so the Viking legacy continues its Mars Exploration Legacy through the work of Vikings at institutes around the world, and those they inspired.

Note: This is just one of thousands of pivotal and seeming small moments on the mission that demonstrate the immense talent on the mission. It does not at all detract from the other moments not mentioned here today. Those details are being collected through interviews with Viking team members and contributors from around the world on all teams, and from all institutes.

The Viking Mars Missions Education & Preservation Project is a small 501c3 nonprofit that is steadily collecting, preserving and sharing the details of the mission through our online Viking Mission Museum https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/exhibit/the-viking-mars-mission/RQKiJsUJbOktIww

Education Outreach events around the world

We bring Viking Team members together at our events to share their experiences directly with the public in formal and informal settings.

Support of students and professionals researching Viking, and in a variety of articles, journals, talks, and communications through channels across the globe.

Supporting Institutes worldwide with temporary loans of Viking artifacts and support developing custom Viking exhibits, such as the VL3 (below), the third and only flight qualified Viking Lander still on earth, owned by VMMEPP Founder Rachel Tillman, on loan to the Museum of Flight in Seattle, WA.

If you are interested in supporting or collaborating please contact us through [email protected]

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VMMEPP - 5331 SW Macadam, #258-504, Portland, OR 97239