Viking 2 probe completes its 42nd year on Mars September 3

CAIRO – 5 September 2018: September 3, 2018 marked the 42nd anniversary of the landing of Viking 2 probe on Mars in 1976.

The probe was launched on September 9, 1975 and was considered a part of NASA’s Viking Project. Its mission consisted of an orbiter and a lander, typical to Viking 1’s, Viking 2’s precedent.

Viking 2’s lander carried a biological laboratory designed to look for possible signs of life on Mars. The lander had worked for 1361 days until it stopped working on April 1, 1980 due to battery breakdown.

As for the orbiter, it had taken 16,000 photos around Mars’s orbit before it stopped working on July 25, 1978.

The last data from Viking 2 arrived to Earth on April 11, 1980, according to NASA’s official website.