Viking on its way to Mars

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33928, 22 August 1975, Page 9

Viking on its way to Mars

(New Zealand Press Association—Copyright! CAPE CANAVERAL, August 21. An American Viking spacecraft is racing through space today on an 11month voyage to Mars, where, scientists hope, the sl,ooom mission may find extraterrestial life.

A “very clean, very smooth” launching sent the Viking hurtling into a hazy Florida sky on the top of a Titan-Centaur rocket, and about 30 minutes later a burn of the rocket’s engines put the spacecraft on a trajectory designed to take it on a looping, 505-million-mile journey around the Sun to Mars.

The Viking, a mini-labor-atory equipped with sophisticated sensing equipment, is due to reach the planet's orbit by June 19, 1976. A lander, called Prospector, may be detached to touch down on the Martian surface to celebrate America’s bicentenary on July 4. The main purpose of the programme, which includes the launching of a second Viking bn September 1, is.to study soil samples and other data for evidence of life on the red planet. “I think the probability of finding life on the planet pretty small,” Dr Noel Hinners, the National Aeronaut-

lies and Space Adminislt ration’s associate administrator for space science, said 'today. While some scientists | think that the chances of {finding life on the planet are greater than Dr Hinners is willing to grant, others have been equally sceptical. All, however, agree that the mission is worth undertaking. “We have the question: is evolution tied to the size and chemistry of a planet?” i Dr Hinners said. “I think the i human mind is very inquisitive. We want to understand where we fit into the scheme of the universe — where we have been, where we are going, how did we get here, and what we are.” After the Viking arrives and begins orbiting Mars, the orbiter part of the spacecraft, called Pathfinder, will take pictures and transmit them back to Earth to ensure that the Martian landing site is safe for Prospector.