Apr 15 1976
From The Space Library
Alternative "super safe" landing sites for the second Viking spacecraft scheduled to arrive on Mars were being investigated by NASA, Dr. Harold Masursky told the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in Washington. Masursky, an astrogeologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, said the prime landing sites had been carefully selected and should present no problem. However, in case of trouble with the first lander, scheduled to touch down early in July, the second lander now scheduled to descend in a less well known area would proceed to a less challenging site to ensure salvaging the mission. The prime site, in the Chryse region at the mouth of the largest channel system identified on Mars, was of special interest because scientists thought areas with highest probabilities of water would be most likely to harbor life as known by man. The scheduled second landing area, called Cydonia, had the highest recorded atmospheric water content during the season when the Viking would land, but was in an area not accessible by radar from earth and was therefore not as well known. Giant radar telescopes in the U.S. and at Arecibo, P.R., were scanning areas near the Mars equator that would be safer than the prime sites, even if not as scientifically productive. (NYT, 18 Apr 76, 25)
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