Word: lander
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...field each time the orbiter swoops to within 1,000 miles of Chryse-showed what seemed to be a relatively smooth area between two heavily cratered strips. It appeared to be less hazardous than the original site, which is crisscrossed by crevasses and steep escarpments that could swallow the lander or cause it to turn over...
...Martian surface and returned pictures showing what seemed to be a lifeless, cratered, moonlike planet. But even those desolate scenes failed to dissuade the diehards. In 1965 Carl Sagan-then a relatively unknown Harvard astronomer, now the best-known proponent of Martian life and a member of the Viking-lander photoanalysis team-suggested that had a Martian version of Mariner 4 passed within 6,000 miles of earth and taken 22 comparable photographs, it would have uncovered no sign of life (TIME, Jan. 7, 1966). In fact, he noted, in studying hundreds of photographs taken by Nimbus and Tiros weather...
...further studies of the second Chryse area satisfy scientists that it is safe for landing, controllers will feed the trajectory of the automated descent into the lander's computers and give the craft a final checkout. Then, on instructions from the scientists, the lander, encased in a protective aeroshell, will be detached from the orbiter. About ten minutes later, two rocket engines in the aeroshell will begin firing, slowing the lander to bring it out of orbit and into a descent path. Some 150 miles from the surface, traveling at more than 10,000 m.p.h., Viking will encounter...
...Soil. At this point, instruments aboard Viking will begin sniffing the atmosphere, counting charged particles and identifying the gases as the craft descends. Farther down, other instruments will begin recording temperature, pressure and density of the thickening atmosphere. At 19,000 ft., now descending at only 560 m.p.h., the lander will unfurl a parachute, jettison its aeroshell and extend its landing legs...
...diffuse the blast. The rocket fuel is also hydrocarbon-free to avoid confusing Viking's life-seeking instruments. When the first Viking foot pad touches Martian soil, it will trip a sensor that shuts off the engines. Eighteen minutes later controllers will know, by signals sent from the lander, if a successful touchdown has been made...