Mars Mission

On July 20, 1976, at 8:12 a.m. EDT, NASA received the signal that the Viking Lander 1 successfully reached the Martian surface. This major milestone represented the first time the United States successfully landed a vehicle on the surface of Mars. The first photograph of the planet’s surface was taken by Viking 1 in July 1976 just minutes after the spacecraft landed. The landing was delayed until a safer site was found. It was the first attempt by the United States at landing on Mars. [Reference – First Image of Mars] [Reference – Sunset at the viking lander 1 site]

This color picture of Mars was taken July 21–the day following Viking 1’s successful landing on the planet.The local time on Mars is approximately noon. The view is southeast from the Viking. Orange-red surface materials cover most of the surface, apparently forming a thin veneer over darker bedrock exposed in patches, as in the lower right. [Reference – First Color image from Viking Lander 1]

The boulder-strewn field of red rocks reaches to the horizon nearly two miles from Viking 2 on Mars’ Utopian Plain. Scientists believe the colors of the Martian surface and sky in this photo represent their true colors. Fine particles of red dust have settled on spacecraft surfaces. Note the American flags, color grid, and bicentennial symbols on the spacecraft, which were used for color balance. [Reference – Viking 2 Image of Mars Utopian Plain] [Reference – Viking 2 Lander color image]

This is the first image NASA’s Perseverance rover sent back after touching down on Mars on Feb. 18, 2021. The view, from one of Perseverance’s Hazard Cameras, is partially obscured by a dust cover. Mars 2020 uses a new generation of engineering cameras that build on the capabilities of past Mars rover cameras. These “enhanced” engineering cameras give much more detailed information, in color, about the terrain around the rover. [Reference – Perseverance Rover’s First Image from Mars] [Reference – Rover’s cameras]

This is the first color image of the Martian surface taken by an aerial vehicle while it was aloft. The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter captured it with its color camera during its second successful flight test on April 22, 2021. At the time this image, Ingenuity was 17 feet (5.2 meters) above the surface and pitching (moving the camera’s field of view upward) so the helicopter could begin its 7-foot (2-meter) translation to the west – away from the rover. The image, as well as the inset showing a closeup of a portion of the tracks the Perseverance Mars rover and Mars surface features. [Reference – First Aerial Color Image of Mars]

Two sizes of wind-sculpted ripples are evident in this view of the top surface of a Martian sand dune. Sand dunes and the smaller type of ripples also exist on Earth. The larger ripples — roughly 10 feet (3 meters) apart — are a type not seen on Earth nor previously recognized as a distinct type on Mars. The Mast Camera (Mastcam) on NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover took the multiple component images of this scene on Dec. 13, 2015, during the 1,192nd Martian day, or sol, of the rover’s work on Mars. [Reference – Two Sizes of Ripples]

A sea of dark dunes, sculpted by the wind into long lines, surrounds Mars’ northern polar cap and covers an area as big as Texas. This scene combines images taken during the period from December 2002 to November 2004 by the Thermal Emission Imaging System instrument on the Mars Odyssey orbiter. This image covers an area 19 miles (30 kilometers) wide. [Reference – Blue Dunes on the Red Planet]

Frosty sand dunes field is characterized by a series of dark-toned polygonal patterns. These may be the result of seasonal frost processes. Several of the steeper dune slopes, pointing in the downwind direction, host narrow furrows suggesting the start of gully formation. This frosty 5-kilometer diameter crater in the high-latitudes of the northern plains of Mars. Some dunes have separated from the main field and appear to be climbing up the crater slope along a gully-like form. [Reference – Frosty sand dunes]

This self-portrait of NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle at “Namib Dune,” where the rover’s activities included scuffing into the dune with a wheel and scooping samples of sand for laboratory analysis. The scene combines 57 images taken on Jan. 19, 2016, during the 1,228th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity’s work on Mars. [Reference – Curiosity Self Portrait]

History

The music

“After the hill I still wanted to go up to see this sightsee. I tried to change this good vibe more playfully by filling up with spirit. I directed the tones up and up and I held them to float in the sky like a soul. The ingenuity was the soul of my notes which gave me more freedom and space. Then It landed on the floor and took me back to this “creative” spirit.

But by the end of the music I had to bring back the reality because nothing lasts forever.”