"PIA00571: Ice on Mars Utopia Planitia Again" (NASA/JPL)

Utopia Planitia is the Martian location where the Viking 2 Mars lander arrived and first explored on September 3, 1976. The lander's Camera 1 provided a photograph of the landing site (seen at right), which was later given the following caption: This high-resolution color photo of the surface of Mars was taken by Viking Lander 2 at its Utopia Planitia landing site on May 18, 1979, and relayed to Earth by Orbiter 1 on June 7. ... This high-resolution color photo of the surface of Mars was taken by Viking Lander 2 at its Utopia Planitia landing site on May 18, 1979, and relayed to Earth by Orbiter 1 on June 7. ... NASA logo Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from an article revision dated 2005-09-01, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... The JPL complex in Pasadena, Ca. ... For the Roman god, see Mars (god). ... Disambiguation: for the rocket please see Viking II (rocket)    Frost on Mars. ... For the Roman god, see Mars (god). ... September 3 is the 246th day of the year (247th in leap years). ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ...

"This high-resolution color photo of the surface of Mars was taken by Viking Lander 2 at its Utopia Planitia landing site on May 18, 1979, and relayed to Earth by Orbiter 1 on June 7. It shows a thin coating of water ice on the rocks and soil. The time the frost appeared corresponds almost exactly with the buildup of frost one Martian year (23 Earth months) ago. Then it remained on the surface for about 100 days. Scientists believe dust particles in the atmosphere pick up bits of solid water. That combination is not heavy enough to settle to the ground. But carbon dioxide, which makes up 95 percent of the Martian atmosphere, freezes and adheres to the particles and they become heavy enough to sink. Warmed by the Sun, the surface evaporates the carbon dioxide and returns it to the atmosphere, leaving behind the water and dust. The ice seen in this picture, like that which formed one Martian year ago, is extremely thin, perhaps no more than one-thousandth of an inch thick." (NASA/JPL)

NASA logo Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from an article revision dated 2005-09-01, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... The JPL complex in Pasadena, Ca. ...

Fictional References

In the fictional Star Trek universe, Utopia Planitia is home to the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards, both on the surface of the planet and in orbit. There, countless federation starships are built and repaired. The Galaxy class starship USS Enterprise-D was designed and built there as well as well as the Intrepid class starship USS Voyager. Star Trek collectively refers to a science-fiction franchise spanning six unique television series, 726 episodes and ten motion pictures in addition to hundreds of novels, video games, fan stories and other works of fiction all set within the same fictional universe created by Gene Roddenberry in the mid-1960s. ... Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards is a large Federation shipyard in synchronous orbit over Utopia Planitia on Mars in the 24th century. ... The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), a Galaxy class starship. ... The early Earth starship Enterprise (NX-01) The original Federation starship Enterprise (NCC-1701) The second Federation starship Enterprise (NCC-1701-A) The third Federation starship Enterprise (NCC-1701-B) The fourth Federation starship Enterprise (NCC-1701-C) The fifth Federation starship Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) The sixth Federation starship... The USS Voyager (NCC-74656), an Intrepid class starship. ... USS Voyager can refer to: The motorboat USS Voyager (SP-361) that served in the United States Navy from 1917 to 1919 and in the United States Coast Guard from 1919 to c. ...

External links

• VL2 Site: Utopia Planitia (NASA)
• PIA00576: Martian Sunrise at Utopia Planitia (NASA Photojournal)
• PIA00530: Frost on Utopia Planitia (NASA Photojournal)
• PIA03796: Utopia Planitia (NASA Photojournal)