Fifty years ago | ‘Roman letter’ on Mars rock
This archival piece recounts the 1976 Viking lander mission to Mars, where scientists successfully resolved a mechanical issue with the soil-sampling arm. It also notes the public fascination with an optical illusion on a Martian rock that appeared to feature letters and numbers.
Why it matters
It provides historical context on early space exploration milestones and the psychological phenomenon of pareidolia in scientific observation.
Pasadena (California), July 26: Commands relayed to Mars from U.S. scientists on earth apparently straightened out a hitch in Viking’s soil-sampling arm yesterday.
But another key experiment the seismology probe, appeared to be beyond the reach of earth-bound repairmen.
Pictures from the Viking lander on Sunday showed a tiny lockpin lying on the Martian dust. That meant the pin believed to have caused the jamming of the soil sampler’s arm, had fallen away as planned.
Late last week after the problem cropped up scientists discovered through a model of the lander at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) that by extending the arm a bit the problem pin would drop free. That was what happened yesterday on Mars, scientists said.
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