PIA10738: Mars Surface near Viking Lander 1 Footpad
This image was taken by NASA's Viking Lander 1 on August 1, 1976, 12 sols after landing. The soil beneath Viking 1 has been exposed due to exhaust from thruster engines during descent.
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Viking 
 Spacecraft:  Viking Lander 1
 Instrument:  Camera 2 
 Product Size:  1744 x 512 pixels (w x h) 
 Produced By:  JPL 
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA10738.tif (894.2 kB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA10738.jpg (142.4 kB)  

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Original Caption Released with Image:

This image, which has been flipped horizontally, was taken by Viking Lander 1 on August 1, 1976, 12 sols after landing. Much like images that have returned from Phoenix, the soil beneath Viking 1 has been exposed due to exhaust from thruster engines during descent. This is visible to the right of the struts of Viking's surface-sampler arm housing, seen on the left.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL

Image Addition Date:
2008-05-30