Sep 22 1977
From The Space Library
NASA announced that Thomas C. Duxbury, a guest investigator at JPL, would use the shadow of Martian moon Phobos on Sept. 20, 24, and 28 to pinpoint the exact location of the Viking 1 lander on the planet's surface.
JPL explained that the spacecraft had landed within a known area but was too small for detection by orbiter cameras, which had been unable to tie in photographs of the site to the lander's position. Duxbury had programmed both the lander and the orbiter to take a picture as the shadow of Phobos passed over the landing site; the time of the photograph and the exact position of the shadow on 3 occasions would permit calculation of the lander's position.
Duxbury was one of 20 chosen to participate in the Viking guest investigator program set up by NASA to offer experimenter opportunities beyond those originally planned for the mission. (NASA Release 77-199) The USSR announced it had launched a 910kg Prognoz 6 to continue study of galactic energetic particles and of solar activity impact on the magnetosphere and the interplanetary medium. (FBIS, Tass Intl Svc in Russian. Sept 22/77)
The USSR announced that Aeroflot's IL-62 jet passenger flagship had set 2 world's records. Piloted by a crew of 6 women, the IL-62 seta world distance record along a closed route of 10 388km, and a world record for average speed along a closed 10 000km route of 804kmph. (FBIS, Tass in English, Sept 22/77)
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