Virtual Viking, Images and animations of the Viking landing sites Options

[tedstryk]

The goldmine(s) for Viking Lander images:
Lander Picture Catalogs of Experiment Data Record - NASA Reference Publication 1068

Why? The images are all on the PDS.

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

Does one need a password to access the Planetary Data System ( PDS ) ?
http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/

[djellison]

No.

http://pds-geosciences.wustl.edu/geo/vl1_v...vl_0002/browse/


http://pds-geosciences.wustl.edu/geo/vl1_v...vl_0001/browse/

[Phil Stooke]

I prefer this source, from which images can be selected by sol, or by clicking on mosaics for each camera to select pictures of a given area.

http://pds-imaging.jpl.nasa.gov/vikingl/vl_images.html

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

The Viking 1 site mapped in a new way... This is the polar projection of the landing site, which I posted some time ago, reprojected to HiRISE geometry. In this comparison, HiRISE is at the top and the reprojected Viking pan is below it. Mapping from ground-level images is very difficult, and grotesque distortions are inevitable, but this is the best I can do after several weeks and far too many iterations. The original is detailed enough to make a full photomap of the sampling area, and in that area the mosaic is controlled to fit the original mission map.

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

I'm still perfecting that reprojected Viking 1 site map. Meanwhile here's a composite of images showing surface changes at the Viking 1 site. There were a few changes in soil patches on the lander itself as well, otherwise these were the only changes seen by Viking 1. For the first one, of course, the change I'm drawing attention to is the erosion by wind of Conical Pile 4 late in the mission. Several other artificial piles of soil were made and monitored but didn't change.

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

Another of the things we can do so much better now than in the old days...

The Vikings carried mirrors on the sampler arm, and one of them could be viewed by one of the cameras to see underneath the lander. Seven images of the mirror were taken by Viking 1 on sols 528, 550, 582 and 594. They can be combined to produce a mosaic of the area underneath Engine 2 (the one right under the cameras) to look at the erosion effects of the engine during landing. The version made during Viking times was really bad! But now we can do it much better. This image contains two separate mosaics - they are supposed to fit together, but right now I don't have the old mosaic with me to compare and figure it out. They have been reversed to take the reflection into account and enlarged 2x. The bottom mosaic shows an erosion pit where loose soil has been blown away to reveal harder crusty stuff underneath. (EDIT: I found the location and fixed the mosaic)

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

Here's the Viking 2 mosaic underneath Engine 2. The images were taken on sols 57 and 555.

Phil

[lyford]

Those are truly special, Phil!

[nprev]

They are indeed! I'm gonna start saving my pennies for your forthcoming atlas...

[Phil Stooke]

I have edited my post above with the Viking 1 mirror mosaic - took out the old attachment and replaced it with one showing the two halves joined correctly. I found one 'accidental' mirror image from Viking 2 as well, that adds to coverage there, but I don't know exactly where the new frame fits. It doesn't actually overlap the mosaic. For reference these mirror mosaics cover an area roughly 20 by 60 cm across.

Phil

[Phil Stooke]

Another bit of Viking history now we are all thinking about the amazing views out past Endeavour crater in the Opportunity thread. After the Viking landing sites had been chosen in 1973 people began to have concerns about their safety. They looked for some extra-safe sites (as determined from earth-based radar) near the equator, the so-called C sites (A sites were at 20 north for the first mission, B sites at 44 north for the second mission. C would be used if A crashed or if all sites at those latitudes looked too rough in Viking images). C1 was just north of Capri Chasma, C3 at Schiaparelli crater, but C2 was at Meridiani. Here's a map showing three possible ellipses described in the minutes of the Landing Site Staff during Viking site certification in 1976. The top one just touched Endeavour crater.

Phil

[nprev]

Fascinating (not a word I use lightly), Phil; did not know that.

One can only imagine how the Mars exploration strategy might have evolved had V1 landed in Meridiani on top of a nice piece of sedimentary pavement...

[Phil Stooke]

There's a lot of good stuff in those committee minutes. My next step is to go through the Viking landing Site Working Group minutes from c. 1970-1974.

Phil

[vikingmars]

Another bit of Viking history now we are all thinking about the amazing views out past Endeavour crater in the Opportunity thread. After the Viking landing sites had been chosen in 1973 people began to have concerns about their safety. They looked for some extra-safe sites (as determined from earth-based radar) near the equator, the so-called C sites (A sites were at 20 north for the first mission, B sites at 44 north for the second mission. C would be used if A crashed or if all sites at those latitudes looked too rough in Viking images). C1 was just north of Capri Chasma, C3 at Schiaparelli crater, but C2 was at Meridiani. Here's a map showing three possible ellipses described in the minutes of the Landing Site Staff during Viking site certification in 1976. The top one just touched Endeavour crater.

Phil

Thanks Phil !
And to complement your good info, here is what was written a while ago + how Meridiani would have looked to the Viking Lander camera.
http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...st&p=105769
Enjoy !