Wire flash
Science50 years ago today: Viking lander arm fixed, 'Roman letters' spotted on Mars rock
Editorial responsibility
- No named human review is recorded for this page.
- Source reporting is collected, normalized, translated or condensed automatically when needed.
- Automatically published source-backed update
This article from The Hindu archives, dated July 27, 1976, reports on the successful repair of a jam in the Viking lander's soil-sampling arm on Mars. Commands from Earth straightened out the hitch after scientists at JPL discovered that extending the arm would cause a problematic lockpin to fall away, which it did. The Viking project manager expressed satisfaction and readiness to proceed. Additionally, new close-up images of the Chryse plain revealed a rock that appeared to bear the Roman letters 'B' and 'C' and the Arabic numeral '2'. Scientists, including Carl Sagan and Bruce Murray, attributed these markings to optical illusions caused by shadowing, cautioning against imagining patterns.
Source report
Published: July 27, 2026 — 01:05 am IST
Pasadena (California), July 26: Commands relayed to Mars from U.S. scientists on Earth apparently straightened out a hitch in Viking’s soil-sampling arm yesterday. However, another key experiment — the seismology probe — appeared to be beyond the reach of earth-bound repairmen.
Pictures from the Viking lander on Sunday showed a tiny lockpin lying on the Martian dust. This indicated that the pin, believed to have caused the jamming of the soil sampler’s arm, had fallen away as planned.
Late last week, after the problem emerged, scientists discovered through a model of the lander at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) that extending the arm slightly would cause the problem pin to drop free. That is what happened yesterday on Mars, scientists said.
“Everybody is very happy about it and we are ready to move right along,” said Viking Project Manager Mr. James Martin. “We are moving right on ahead.”
New close-up pictures of the Chryse plain on Mars revealed what appeared to be a rock bearing the Roman letters “B” and “C” and the Arabic numeral “2.” Scientists said the characters were optical illusions caused by shadowing.
“People are great at imagining things,” said Dr. Carl Sagan. Dr. Bruce Murray, Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, agreed.
Source
The Hindu: Latest News today from India and the World, Breaking news, Top Headlines and Trending News Videos.Western
Part of this Story
Fifty Years Ago: Viking Lander Arm Fixed, 'Roman Letter' Spotted on Mars Rock