PIA00390: Viking Lander's Buried Footpad #3
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Viking
 Spacecraft:  Viking Lander 1
 Instrument:  Camera 1 
 Product Size:  520 x 512 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  JPL
 Producer ID:  P17397
 Addition Date:  1996-12-12
 Primary Data Set:  Viking EDRs
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA00390.tif (98.75 kB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA00390.jpg (41.22 kB)

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Original Caption Released with Image:

One of Viking 1's three feet, which should be visible in this view, lies buried beneath a cover of loose Martian soil. This picture, taken Sunday (August 1), is the first to show the buried footpad #3. If not buried, the edge of the foot would be seen extending across the picture about midway between top and bottom. The foot sank about five inches, and fine-grained soil slumped into the depression and over the foot. The cracked nature of the surface near the slump area and the small, steep cliff at left indicates that the material is weakly cohesive. The surface material here is very similar mechanically to lunar soil.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL

Image Addition Date:
1996-12-12