#viking project

[marsmissiontournament]

Round 2 Match 12

Viking 1 Orbiter vs Mangalyaan

Read about The Viking 1 Orbiter and Mangalyaan.

Which orbiter is your favourite?

Viking 1

Mangalyaan

Voting ended onApr 25, 2023

[marsmissiontournament]

Mars Mission Tournament Round 1 Match 6

Viking 1 Orbiter vs Viking 2 Orbiter

[NASA]

Read about the spacecraft here

Which of these twin orbiters is your favourite?

Viking 1

Viking 2

Voting ended onApr 20, 2023

[photosophers]

Valles Marineris: The Grand Canyon of Mars

Viking Project

The largest canyon in the Solar System cuts a wide swath across the face of Mars. Named Valles Marineris, the grand valley extends over 3,000 kilometers long, spans as much as 600 kilometers across, and delves as much as 8 kilometers deep. By comparison, the Earth's Grand Canyon in Arizona, USA is 800 kilometers long, 30 kilometers across, and 1.8 kilometers deep. The origin of the Valles Marineris remains unknown, although a leading hypothesis holds that it started as a crack billions of years ago as the planet cooled. Several geologic processes have been identified in the canyon. The above mosaic was created from over 100 images of Mars taken by Viking Orbiters in the 1970s.

[astronomerinprogress]

Deimos: A Small Martian Moon 

Credit: Viking Project, JPL, NASA

Explanation: Mars has two tiny moons, Phobos and Deimos. Pictured above is Deimos, the smaller moon of Mars. In fact, Deimos is one of the smallest known moons in the Solar System measuring only nine miles across. The diminutive Martian moons were discovered in 1877 by Asaph Hall, an American astronomer working at the US Naval Observatory in Washington D.C. The existence of two Martian moons was predicted around 1610 by Johannes Kepler, the astronomer who derived the laws of planetary motion. In this case, Kepler's prediction was not based on scientific principles, but his writings and ideas were so influential that the two Martian moons are discussed in works of fiction such as Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, written in 1726, over 150 years before their actual discovery.

[astronomerinprogress]

Valles Marineris: The Grand Canyon of Mars 

Credit: Viking Project, USGS, NASA

Explanation: The largest canyon in the Solar System cuts a wide swath across the face of Mars. Named Valles Marineris, the grand valley extends over 3,000 kilometers long, spans as much as 600 kilometers across, and delves as much as 8 kilometers deep. By comparison, the Earth's Grand Canyon in Arizona, USA is 800 kilometers long, 30 kilometers across, and 1.8 kilometers deep. The origin of the Valles Marineris remains unknown, although a leading hypothesis holds that it started as a crack billions of years ago as the planet cooled. Recently, several geologic processes have been identified in the canyon. The above mosaic was created from over 100 images of Mars taken by Viking Orbiters in the 1970s.