The Viking atmosphere structure experiment - Techniques, instruments, and expected accuracies

Abstract

During high-speed entry and descent through the atmosphere of Mars, the two Viking spacecraft will make in situ measurements of the structure of the atmosphere. The profiles of temperature, pressure, and density with altitude will be defined from an altitude of about 100 km to touchdown, from measurements of the atmospherically induced deceleration and directly measured temperatures and pressures, the latter at altitudes below about 20 km. These data will be supplemented by onboard-radar altitudes and, below 8 km, by three-component Doppler radar velocities. Winds will be derived from the Doppler velocities and from gyro records of vehicle attitude changes. The planet radius at the landing site, needed to interpret the atmospheric data, will be defined to within a few tenths of a kilometer from the measured acceleration due to gravity after landing. It is expected that temperature will be determined to within about 1 K in the lower atmosphere, and to within a few degrees up to 100 km; pressures to within a few percent; and wind velocities to within about 2 meters/second below 8 km.